Something Else
by Rose Laflesh
Summary: Years have passed since Dib and Zim had first met, and very little has changed until a car crash leaves Dib without his arms and legs. To make things worse, Membrain has decided to make Dib love Real Science. Through any means necessary.ZADR
1. Chapter 1

A dangerously thin boy sat on his desk chair. The only light in the room came from the screen of his computer, lighting the room in a blueish tint. His long, awkward legs were curled up to his chest as he watched the many video windows open, each of a different area of an alien's house. His eyes dart from one screen to another as he watches the green creature move from one room to the other. It was wearing a fake looking black wig and glassy contact lenses, but it was so clearly an alien. Why couldn't people see how alien he looked.

He ran his fingers through his hair for the fifteenth time, making the already wild hair even messier. It was still the weekend so he watched in his pajamas, which only consisted of a very old and very worn pair of bottoms. He pulled out a few strands of hair as his fingers caught a knot. Once he freed his hand, he grabbed the computer mouse to enlargen the kitchen feed. The alien sat down at the kitchen table like a normal person, but he wasn't normal, but no one would believe him. The light in the room started to look different. Someone was at the door, but he couldn't look away, not when the fate of the world was in his hands.

"Dib!" His sister growled for what might have been the first, or the eighth time, he didn't know. She picked up one of his socks and threw it at his head. "Dib! Dad's home. He's taking us to Bloaties."

Dib's eyes darted away from the screen for a second to look at his sister before fixing back on the alien, who was now being served waffles by a equally susicios looking dog. Dib knew that it was no dog but the alien's robot servant. The robot was nothing to worry about, but the alien. He was dangerous. He wanted to take over the world, and Dib was the only person in the world smart enough to save it.

"Dib, didn't you hear me?" Gaz said. Her eyes widened in anger and she snarled at him.

"Look at him!" Dib whispered, "He's eating waffles again. Why does he eat waffles when he can't eat anything else."

"Dib! We're going to Bloaties, you are not messing this up for me like you always do."

"You always go to Bloaties. But what if Zim tries to take over."

"Zim's always trying to take over, but if you don't get ready right now, Zim's stupid plans will be the least of your worries." She gave him one more glare and slammed the door.

Dib stared at the screen for a little while. Zim just spat out a tumb tac that GIR must have cooked into the waffles. Anytime now Zim is going to do something. Dib just knew it. Zim was going to do something that will tell Dib of his plans and what he needs to do to stop it. Everyone called him crazy, but when he brings them Zim, they will all be begging for forgiveness. They will appologize for all the years of hurt, and his dad will be proud of him. Finially. He just needed to wait.

"Dib!" Gaz called from downstairs. "Hurry up! You have five minutes before come up there and kill you." Gaz didn't make empty threats.

Dib groaned and rubbed the ache out of his eyes, causing his glasses to be pushed up onto his head. She just didn't understand. He had to protect the world and he will do anything to make sure planet Earth is never destroyed by the alien.

"Dib!" Gaz called once more.

"I'll get you and , Zim." Dib threatened the screen before turning the monitor off.

He kicked over a pile of clothes. He really needed to do some laundry soon. He picked out a pair of jeans that weren't too wrinkled and a decent shirt. It wasn't the most stylish look, but it was good enough. Why bother with looking nice anyways. It's not like he has anyone to impress. Everyone hates him, and those who don't hate him couldn't care less about him. In fact there is only one being in the entire universe who gives a crap whether he lives or dies, and Dib knows Zim would rather kill him.

Gaz was waiting next to Professor Membrain at the bottom of the stairs. She glared at him. A glare that warned against doing anything stupid. Dib didn't pay much attention to it. She gave him that glare every day. His dad didn't seem to notice. In fact, he didn't seem to notice the ragged look his son had. Dib was sure those goggles had some sort of holigram in them to make Membrain see only what he wanted to see. He planned that one day he would test that theory. maybe he could use them to make his dad see the truth and finially stop calling him crazy.

"Come on son," Professor Membrain said in a cheerful, booming voice, "We are going to dinner. Proper nutrician is good for the brain! It helps children grow into proper inteligent adults."

"I'm seventeen dad," Dib grumbled, "I think I've done all the growing I'm going to do. Besides, caring about our eating habits once a year isn't going to make any difference."

"That a boy!" Membrain cheered as if he didn't hear a word Dib said, "Now, to dinner!"

They all piled into the hover car. Gaz got the front seat, as usual. Dib knew better than to fight Gaz over something as stupid as the front seat. Besides, he had grown to like the back seat. His father forgot about him back there. When he sat in the front his father would argue with him about being insane and about joining real science. After years of dealing with this, Dib decided he's better off being ignored.

He had long given up trying to win his father's affection. He knew his father would never accept that aliens were real. All that mattered now was making sure Zim didn't take over the world. No amount of lonliness, redicule, or pain would stop him from saving the Earth. Even if it means a lifetime of lonliness, he will never stop saving the Earth.

People still make fun of him. In fact, after years of trying to warn everybody, and many public fights with Zim, the entire city now knew him as the "crazy guy" and either kept away from him, or teased him. Although lately it seems as if less people were teasing him. They had found something else to tease. He almost missed the redicule. Things have been too quiet lately. At least Zim always had some sort of stupid plan to make things interesting.

Membrain started the car. It jumped up higher into the air, before smoothly moving forward. The trip to Bloaties was quiet except for the music Gaz had put on. Dib didn't really like her music. There wasn't much music he did like. He was too busy stoping Zim and his alien plans for world domination to bother with music. He spent the boring ride watching the billboards pass by. 76 of the 80 billboards he saw were either about something Membrain invented or the Membrain enterprises. The remaining billboards were about shampoo, Poop Soda, shoes, and some lottery. In that order.

"So, are you still chasing aliens?" Membrain asked as the car hovered along.

"No." Dib lied. He wasn't going to tell his dad that it was the only thing he did anymore. He wasn't in the mood to argue with his dad, he actually wasn't in the mood to even talk to anyone. The only thing he was in the mood for was watching Zim. There's no telling what that alien was up to.

"Excelent!" Membrain beemed, "So you've decided to join real science?"

"No." Did said. This time it was the truth, "I'm still a paranormal investigator. I'm just not chasing aliens."

Professor Membrain sighed, "My poor insane son." for probaby the billionth time. It seems to be the only way he knows to discribe his own son.

Dib shrugged it off. After years of being called insane by idiots, every one calling him insane. If they knew the truth they would realize that he was the only sane one on the Earth. But he didn't care anymore, everyone, every single person, who called him insane was an idiot. Even his father was an idiot. King of the idiots. If sanity meant being stupid, Dib was glad he was crazy. Ignorence is a curse.

There's no reason to let it bother him. It's not like it really matters. It doesn't matter if no one knows he's the hero of the world, after all, heroes aren't heroes if they only do it for fame and praise, they do it for the people the save. It doesn't matter that he does the same thing every day only to end up where he was when he was a child because there is only one way for the world to go if he didn't work as hard as he did, and that's to hell. It doesn't matter that no one listens to him anymore. He stopped talking to everyone a long time ago. It doesn't matter if he's all alone. People don't matter anyway.

"Hey Dib," Gaz said, still bobbing her head to the screatchy music, "What pizza are you ordering?"

Dib was sure that it was an act for their dad. She always acted nicer to him when their dad was around. She was a cold and cruel every other day of the year, but when they got to spend time with their father. It must be an act, she always valued her position as the favourite child. It's not that she needed to work hard for that, Dib knew he was a failure the minute Membrain realized that Dib existed, which was a few months after their mom died.

"I don't know, maybe a plain cheese." The pizza Dib always ordered. He didn't particularly care which pizza he had, plain cheese was usually the easiest choice.

Gaz turned around in her seat and stared at Dib. "You're actually going to eat it this time, right?"

"As long as Zim doesn't come around." Dib said. They both knew that it wasn't an answer, Zim almost always apears when they go out. Usually trying to complete some stupid plan involving mutant meatballs. But it's usually after they've sat down for a while. Dib would just poke at his food in the meantime.

"Oh yes, and how is you're little foreign friend? It's so nice to see you're making friends." His father said like he had since they were kids. Dib was sure that his father never actually leaves the lab and this is just some andriod he created to trick them.

"He's fine." Dib said. Whether or not his father is a robot, Dib wasn't going to talk to him anymore than he had to. That's how his father always treated him, and it takes two to play the ignoring game.

"That's good."

They arrived at Bloaties. The sour smell of fried cheese and mouldy dough assaulted Dib's nose. Little kids ran around, screaming at the top of their lungs as they fought over what games they would play. Why did his sister always insist on coming here. It couldn't be the subliminal messages in the ads. They stopped using them years ago, and his sister wasn't stupid enough to fall for those. The food was horrible, it was noisy, and the weekly cleaning left much to be desired.

Gaz walked on ahead of them and sat down in her seat after scaring away a couple of ten year olds. The mechanical servers swarmed around her, asking for orders. Dib and Membrain caught up and gave their orders. No one spoke once the robots were gone. Dib laid his head on the table and stared at a tomatoe that had dried onto the wall. It was the same tomatoe that was there two years ago when Gaz choose this place for family night. The only upside to this is that next time it's Dib's turn to choose the activity.


	2. Chapter 2

_OK, here's the next chapter. Because I have a lot on my plate, I'm going to try my best to keep up with weekly updates. So every Monday I hope to have a new chapter up. I might forget some weeks, or I might be so busy that I can't write. Just enjoy what the story has to offer and be sure to comment._

"Dib?" A screechy voice asked.

Dib turned his head from the food he was picking apart. Natalie stood in her revealing outfit. He would have thought that she would have the least bit of self respect, but she will do anything for attention. But that's probably why she's one of the popular girls. She was also a senior at his high school. He wondered why she was even bothering with him. She must be out for a few laughs.

"Yeah." He said.

"Fancy meeting you here!" She smiled, playing with her already too short skirt.

"Yeah, we live in the same town. What are the chances that we see each other in one of the popular restaurants."

"I just didn't think you actually ate!" She laughed.

Dib looked her over. "You neither." She was one of the only people who were skinnier than he was. She probably lived off of water and laxatives.

She gave a forced laugh that grated on his ears. Didn't she have anything better to do than taunt him? Gaz was ignoring her, and his father didn't even seem to notice her. They just shoved food down their throats. Dib sighed. He gave his pizza a poke. The greasy slice flopped limply on his plate. It did not look the least bit appetizing, although it was more interesting than the girl standing next to the table.

"So, are you doing anything important tonight? You know, besides looking for UFOs."

"Yes," Dib said, wishing that she would just leave him alone for once.

"Protecting the world, still?" She giggled.

"Yes."

"Well, when you want to take a break from that. I'm having this party tonight. My parents are out of town, and I'm inviting the whole school. Normally I wouldn't have invited you, but I'm trying for a personal best. I hope you can come." She looked at Gaz who still hadn't acknowledged her. "You're sister can come too."

"Pass." Gaz said, a slight growl in her voice.

Natalie took a step back from Gaz. Dib wished that he could have that effect, maybe people wouldn't bother him so often if he could scare them away the Gaz did. Natalie regained her nerve and walked back to the table. She still looked scared of Gaz, but she kept an eye on Dib.

"Well, if you're interested, you know where I live right?"

"Yeah." Dib said, lifting up the piece of pizza. Grease ran down his fingers.

"Great. See you there." She said, leaning over the table so that her cleavage was almost hanging out of her low cut shirt.

She then left as quickly as possible. She was giggling with every step. She probably didn't have enough brain cells to even think. Dib took a hesitant bite of his pizza. He dropped it. Cheese pizza was always too greasy, especially pizza from Bloaties'. They probably deep fried it, which might explain why Gaz loves it so much.

"It's nice to see that you're so popular." His father said in his usual overly cheerful voice before going back to his food. Sometimes Dib wondered why his father even tried to pretend he cared. "Going to parties rather than wasting your time with all that para-nonsense."

"I'm not going to that stupid party." Dib said, and took another bite of his pizza, trying to hold down the gag reflex.

"It's not as if they really want you there anyway." Gaz mumbled before dropping the crust on her plate and reaching for another slice of pizza.

"Yeah..." Dib said, he wasn't really sure that was the case. After all, why bother inviting him to a party if they didn't want him there. They could just tease him at school like they always did.

"Besides, you really aren't the social person. You would probably be scared out of your mind."

"No," Dib protested, "I'm not going because I don't care about parties."

"That's exactly the kind of talk people with social phobias say," Membrane announced, "But it's alright son, I was exactly like you in High school, only sane. I didn't go to any parties when I was your age, and look at me now."

Dib looked from his father, then back to Gaz, who took another slice of pizza and started taking huge bites out of it. She didn't seem to react to their father's ramblings. Dib sat his slice of pizza back on the plastic plate and tried to inch out of the seat. He didn't want to listen to another word his father was saying, but Gaz just stared at him, not leaving her spot to let him out.

"Where are you going?"

Dib quickly came up with an excuse. "The... bathroom."

"Hold it," Gaz said, not falling for his weak reason.

Dib groaned and inched back into his spot. He poked at his slice he still left half eaten, slowly pulling off small pieces and nibbling on them. It wasn't that he hated pizza, it was just that he was getting sick of it, especially Bloaties' pizza. What he wouldn't give to go out for tacos right now. At least at the taco place GIR shows up every now and then, and he could get more information about Zim's latest plan.

He laid his head back down on the table. He was so bored. His father was boring. This place was boring, and he can't leave until Gaz was ready to leave. He looked at the last robot left in this place as some five-year-olds tore it apart. There used to be a dozen robot animals around here, but they broke one by one, and Bloaties' never bothered to replace them. Dib watched as sparks flew out of the robot and it burst into flames.

After watching one of the servers put out the fire and start up the singed robot, which sputtered into the back for repairs, Dib sat back in his seat. The pan of pizza was already empty, even Dib's slice was missing. Gaz was scarfing down what was probably Dib's slice and their father was paying the check. A tired and annoyed server took the money and they all walked back to the hover car. Just the end to another typical family outing.

As Dib climbed into the back seat, he noticed something small run behind a trash can. It looked like a dog. It might have been one of those zombie gnomes that kept stealing some of his investigating equipment, or it could be GIR probably doing Zim's bidding as usual. Not that GIR is that menacing next to so much junk food, but any chance that it could be Zim out to destroy the Earth was too big of a chance.

"I'll meet up with you guys later," Dib said, "There's something I have to check up on. I think I'll walk home."

"Sorry, son, but family night begins as a family and it ends as a family," Membrane said.

"But dad..."

"Dib! Get in the car," Gaz yelled.

Dib sat in his seat. After years of dealing with Gaz, he should have figured a way to say no to her, but no matter how much nerve he manages to grow, it's never enough to deal with Gaz. He shut the door and stared into the dark alley as the small figure ran like a toddler into darker shadows until he couldn't see it anymore.

His father started the car. Something sounded odd. There was an odd clanking that wasn't there before. This has to be Zim's doing. He must have sent GIR to tamper with the car in another attempt to get rid of Dib. It is unlike Zim to think of something so simple, but it's probably just part of some bigger scheme to get rid of Dib. Dib tried to say something, but his father just shrugged him off.

"This craft is the best vehicle known to man," His father boasted, "I should know, I built it myself. If anything is wrong then I'll fix it when we get home."

Dib sat back in his seat. He knew he wasn't to be able to do anything with his family around. His father never believed him, even in things that had nothing to do with the paranormal. He could say that the sky is blue and his father would contradict him. And Gaz might believe him, but she also would never do anything that helps him. She doesn't care about anything but video games and Bloaties'. And at the moment, sitting in the car is time spent not on video games.

They were both so stupidly stubborn in their interests that they blind themselves to the truth. That everyone was in danger. And at the moment, they might be in immediate danger. If his suspicions were correct, then GIR had just done something to the car on Zim's orders. Dib didn't know what Zim had planned, but it never is anything good.

The car lifted up to its hover height and started down the road. The sound got worse and worse as the car picked up speed. Dib noticed something on the seat next to him. It was a neatly folded piece of paper. Dib opened it up, and read the note. It was written on a reddish stationary with the Irkin symbol on the top.

"Dear Dib," It read, "I hope you like this little surprise. Victory for Zim!" On the bottom of the note is a quickly little doodle of Zim standing on the Earth with an Irkin flag in his hand.

Dib crumpled it up and tossed it to the floor. He was about to ask his father if he could just walk home again, but Dib decided not to waste his breath. He always got his hopes up that one day his father would just listen for a few seconds and see that Dib was telling the truth and that everything he talked about was real. But seventeen years of living with Membrane, with sixteen of those years spent being ignored by his father, have taught him that his father will never listen to him. He still held onto the smallest bit of hope, but Zim has been doing stuff right in front of Membrane's face and he doesn't even blink. At least, Dib didn't think be blinked. Membrane's eyes were long lost behind those thick goggles.

Dib decided that he should just put on his seat belt and prepare for the worst. He had no idea what the worst might be, but he might as well prepare for it. He reached for the belt, but he couldn't find it. In fact, all the seat belts were gone. Was that Zim's big plan? Taking the seat belts? Dib tapped on the airbag panels. They sounded empty. So Zim took out all the safety devices. It doesn't sound like his usual over the top plans, but it was as intelligent as they usually are. Take out all the safety devices and wait for an accident.

Knowing Zim he'd probably cause one just to make sure.

Dib paused at that thought. The car making strange sounds, the missing safety devices, seeing what almost looked like GIR run away from the car into the alley. Zim was trying to kill Dib in a car crash. Zim has done some crazy things to try and get rid of Dib, but he hasn't tried to kill him before. The plan, it also seemed too simple. Usually Zim's plans involved shooting people into space, or creating some sort of mutant animal to cause destruction, or just something to tease Dib. Usually his plans are so extravagant and under planned that they blow up in Zim's face, sometimes literally. But this was simple, and thought out, and only requires Dib to be in the car with no one listening to his warnings. This wasn't like Zim at all.

They were coming up to a street light. It was still green. Thank God. Dib didn't know what Zim did to the car, but if this plan is as well thought out as Dib suspects it is, then it might be as simple as cutting the breaks so the car flies into on coming traffic, and with no safety devices, it might just be fatal.

Dib starts looking for something else, something that he can use to stop they from crashing, but the only thing he found was a fish that smelled worse than anything he had ever smelled. He threw it out the window, and looked back up at the street lights. They passed the first ones without issue, but the second ones had just turned yellow. Dib started to look for something to hold him back in a crash, or something to help the car stop, something to save him and his family.

"Dib, stop jumping around back there," Gaz yelled, "I've been away from my Game Slave for almost 2 hours, and if I have to wait any longer, you're going to wish you were never born."

Dib froze for a little while, and gave the car another look around. There wasn't anything he could do. The light turned red and his father hit the breaks. To Dib's surprise, the car slid to a smooth stop. The car still was making an odd noise, but nothing seemed to be wrong. Maybe Dib was wrong.

They waited at the light for a few seconds, then the car suddenly jumped forward. It started skidding into the on coming traffic. Membrane twisted the wheel trying to keep the car from being hit, but it only made it spin around before being hit several times by the cars. No one bothered to try and slow down. Dib was pressed against the side of the car. The force pinning him to the door.

The car spun faster until it smashed into the pole. Dib felt a sudden weightlessness before a hard land, crushing pain, and then a darkness. He could hear the squeal of cars finally stopping. He could hear people screaming and whining. He listened as sirens started to come and the faint sound of shouting. Then he heard nothing.


	3. Chapter 3

Dib woke up. Everything was white. He must have died. He died and now he was in heaven or something like that. Or maybe he was a ghost. He always thought it would be interesting to be a ghost. Being able to go where ever he wanted without anyone seeing him. Going through walls. And as a ghost, he can find other supernatural beings. Maybe he'd be able to make friends with a big foot, and he would haunt the hell out of Zim.

"Hey, looks like you're awake," A soft man's voice said.

Dib blinked a bit and things came into slightly better focus. He felt around until he found his glasses and put them on. Ge was just in a hospital, which explained all the white. The male nurse stood next to his bed with a cart full of pillows. He sat Dib up and replaced his pillows before leaving.

Dib rearranged his glasses on his face and looked around. For just being thrown from a car, he seemed to be in pretty good shape. He wasn't in a body cast. In fact, he didn't seem to be in any cast, which was a little strange, he could have sworn he broke something. Nothing hurt, but it was probably because of some drug they had given him. He wasn't even hooked up to IVs, which was a little odd considering he was just in a car crash. He knew Zim had something to do with it. He probably programed the car to jump forward into traffic when it stopped at a light.

Dib sat up a bit more. The hospital bed felt a little softer than the last time he was in here. He felt so comfortable, he felt the need to stretch. He pulled his arms forward and the long sleeves of the hospital gown slid off his arms showing his mechanical hands and wrists.

Dib jumped back. He pulled up the sleeves and felt around. There appeared to be touch sensors on the mechanical hands, he could feel just like he always had. His left arm was robotic all the way to his shoulder while his right arm was only up to his elbow. He threw the blankets off and saw the two stretches of metal and wire that now made up his legs. Both legs were completely replaced with machinery. Every inch of machinery was covered in touch sensors. They even sent sensations of pain as he tried to pinch himself.

"There's my son. All better." Membrane announced as he walked into the room. Gaz followed close behind, not looking up from her video game.

"Dad, what did you do to me?"

"Most of your body was damaged. You were declared dead. So I replaced everything with machinery. You hold the best artificial body parts Membrane Industries has to offer. You're just like your old man now."

"Just like you?" Dib nearly cried in terror.

"Of course. When I was your age I tried to create a pheromone that would make me irresistible to the ladies. It resulted in an explosion that destroyed almost all of my body. My father replaced my body with machinery, and it made me into the man I am today. And now, with you're awesome robot body, we shall explore real science together!"

"Dad! I told you that I don't want to study real science. I'm going to be a paranormal investigator."

"Not even when real science saved your life while, because of your fiasco in para-science stuff, this is your fifteenth time in this hospital?" Professor Membrane said breathlessly.

"I'm surprised you kept track." Dib said flatly.

"Of course I kept track, you're my son. And the guys at work wouldn't leave me alone about it."

"Yeah, well, I guess you just wasted a lot of real science on me, because I'm not going to stop as long as Zim threatened the world."

"And you still go on with your insanity about that Zim kid. I would have thought for sure that the crash had fixed you, but I fear it might have made you more insane than ever."

"Of course it didn't fix me," Dib said, looking his father straight in the eyes, "There was nothing to fix."

He threw his robotic legs off the bed and stood up. He straightened his back and stomped towards the door. He wished he didn't have the limp he did. He wasn't used to the legs, they reacted differently than his normal legs. The limp kind of took away from the dramatics of the moment. As he passed Gaz, a hand darted from her video game and she grabbed his arm.

"Don't try to stop me," He told her.

A thumb hit the pause button and her squinting eyes started up at him. She was prescribed glasses long ago, but she didn't like how geeky they made her look. "I'm not trying to stop you. But I do want you to put on clothes first."

Dib looked down and remembered that he was wearing the hospital gown. He felt self conscious with the fact that all he had on was a paper dress. He looked around the room and saw that his clothes were sitting on the chair next to the bed. His favorite blue t-shirt, a pair of black jeans, and his lucky black trench. It wasn't a trench anymore, but he didn't have the heart to throw it away. Instead he just got a tailor to fix it so it would still fit.

He took his clothes into the small bathroom attached to the room and got changed. It took him a little longer than he thought. He wasn't used to the response time of the legs, and sometimes he would kick his legs a little to far, making him fall over. Other times the clothes would get caught in the joints of the exposed robotics. This just took even more away from the dramatic exit he was hoping for, but it probably doesn't matter. He'll get dressed, go home, and catch up on all the footage he missed of Zim.

"Well it's good to see you've recovered son. I'll be back to pick you up. Come on daughter." Membrane said, leaving.

Gaz looked up from her game one last time. It was hard to read her face. Dib couldn't tell if it was a disinterested squint, a good bye look, a look of pity, or she was just looking to see if he was still there. The game made a crashing sound, and Gaz was pulled back into her game, yelling "die, die!" as she walked out of the room.

Dib laid back on the bed. It was going to be a long few days. He might miss a bit of school, which was one good thing that he could take out of this. One more day surrounded by those morons would almost make him take his father's WELD, the weaponized explody laser device, to his head. The everyone would joke about his head exploding, probably saying how it was so big it was just waiting to blow up, but he would be dead, so that's a bonus. And Zim has the odd habit of getting distracted with petty little things.

Dib had noticed long ago that whenever he was away, like when he tried real science, or that summer when he went away to summer camp and saved a family of yetis from the loggers, he would always come back to find that Zim had given up on everything. It really was a game for both of them. Like a game of arsonist and firefighter. The arsonist would light fires, and the firefighter would put them out. Maybe the arsonist wouldn't light fires if he knew that the firefighter wasn't there to put them out, but the firefighter had dedicated his life to stopping fires, and to stop now would be the same as dying. Dib knew he felt like dying when he tried real science.

Dib looked down at his new hands and flexed his new mechanical parts. He wondered how much of his body is still organic. He wasn't surprised that his father used this as an opportunity to test his new inventions, and show of "real science" to Dib. He was surprised that his father actually kept track of how often he had been in here. His father was off by about twenty trips to the hospital, but the fact that his father even realized that this isn't Dib's first trip to the hospital was amazing. It was almost as rare as seeing GIR quietly reading something without pictures. The fact that his father kept track at all almost made it feel like he cares. If it wasn't for the fact that he only knew all of this because people teased him about Dib being his son, Dib would almost feel something besides resentment about his father.

Dib decided that he was going to go back to sleep. Maybe he can ignore the fact that he once again became his father's guinea pig, like the time his father turned him orange while trying to find a cure for the common cold. Zim didn't do anything that year because he was too busy laughing. Ever since they were kids Dib and Gaz always did their best not to get sick, or if they were sick, to stay as far away from their father. Gaz wouldn't even come home if she caught a cold, especially after the pig girl fiasco. Dib still got a morning wake up beating for that.

That's another good thing about being stuck in the hospital, Gaz would leave him alone, he would get to eat something besides tacos and Bloaties'. He used to love them as much as Gaz did, but seventeen straight years of that was a little gross. He wondered why Gaz didn't get sick of them. Maybe he needed a bit of a vacation from his life. Dib sank into his bed a little. Maybe the hospital will give him a few moments of peace. Dib closed his eyes and relaxed.

"Hello Dib-worm," The annoying voice he had known since he was a boy cackled.

Dib forced his eyes open. Zim was standing over his bed. The green alien had his pitiful excuse for a disguise on. All it was was contacts and a wig. If Dib didn't know how stupid everyone was, he would have sworn that Zim was trying to get caught on purpose. But, then again, Zim had been wearing that disguise since he met him. People don't even question the fact that Zim never grows, or the fact that Zim never ages, or that Zim's hair is always the same length and style, or the fact that Zim hasn't changed his clothes in years.

"What do you want you alien freak?"

"The pig-smellies at school were spewing words that you were in a malfunctioning hover vehicle, and that the doctors should have let you die. I had to see your pitiful state for myself."

"Go on, gloat Zim, but your stupid car crash plan didn't work."

"Car crash plan? Zim would never think of something so stupid," Zim said, sounded insulted, "But, if I had known that you humans were so weak that you died from a mere transportation collision, then I would have done that years ago. Maybe I would have crashed the buses instead of trying to send them to that room with a moose."

"Wait, you didn't cause the car crash?" Dib couldn't quite wrap his head around it. "But I saw GIR running away from the car, and the seat belts were gone, and that note you left."

"Zim didn't touch that piece of junk you worms call a car. Zim's plan was to knock you out with a genetically enhanced super smelly fish!" Zim threw his arms up like he had just created something great.

"Wait, that fish was your plan? I just threw that out the window. But the seat belts were gone."

"Oh that. GIR's building a tree house out of the things you humans call safety devices." Zim shook his head, "Stupid, stupid GIR."

"So, you didn't do anything to the car."

"I understand why you underestimated me, Dib-filth. You're pitiful human brain can't possibly hope to comprehend the genius that is Zim!"

"Oh." Dib looked at his hand, flexing it. He really did just loose his arms and legs to an accident.

"What have you got there Dib-worm?" Zim said, grabbing Dib's arm.

"A new arm for beating the pulp out of anything that threatens man-kind."

"It's not bad, you know, for being created by an inferior species. It has the same reflexes as you humans, which isn't saying much."

"Thanks." Dib said flatly, glaring at Zim.

"You're welcome." Zim dropped Dib's hand. "Now, as sad as I know you'll be to see Zim go, I have to keep an eye out on GIR. I think he's malfunctioning again."

"Isn't he always?"

Zim looked at Dib and gave him a scared half grin. "Uh, yeah."

Zim then ran out of the room. Leaving Dib to his thoughts. So all of this was just because fate is a bitch and likes to throw Dib around. Not only did fate give him an unusually large head for people to laugh at, it filled it with more brains than anyone on the planet and gave him the eyes to see what everyone else ignores and accepts. If there was some supreme being controlling his life, it was a being with a twisted sense of humor, and maybe a little insane.


	4. Chapter 4

That wasn't the last time that Zim decided to visit Dib in the hospital. What does it say about you when your worst enemies visit you more than your own family? There seems to be some sort of unspoken truce between Dib and Zim. While any other day, it's a rule free game to destroy the other, but there's a time out when one of them requires to heal. After all, where's the fun in attacking your enemy when they can't fight back?

Of course, that meant that Zim probably had a plan to get at Dib the second he walked out of the hospital. Maybe something childish like a bucket of ooze that will make Dib glow in the dark for a week. Or maybe not. Zim did that last week on Dib's birthday. It was meant to humiliate Dib at school, but Zim forgot that the class room was on the sunny side of the school. Even when Dib was in the darker areas of the school, no one cared enough to look. The only thing it really did was make it harder for Dib to sneak up on Zim at night.

The next three days passed painfully slow. There was no one to talk to except the nurse, who was constantly overworked. It seemed the hospital only had a budget for either more nurses or a flat screen in the doctor's lounge. Dib didn't get to know the nurse very well. And of course there was always Zim who visited him every day, usually to gloat about some plan he wasn't going to tell Dib.

Most of the days were spent staring at the walls. They didn't let Dib have a laptop because they were worried there would be some kind of disconnection or something like that. Dib was sure they were just even monsters that delighted in tormenting their patients.

The only thing that really kept him occupied was thinking about all the things he was going to do when he finished school. He'll move to the east coast, maybe New York, he'll get a job and go to college. He'll change his name so that no one can find him. He will miss not chasing Zim around, but he was going down the drain in this town. He'll miss putting out Zim's fires, but there's always something going on. New York is known for the albino alligator people, he'll stop whatever plans they have, if they have any plans. He and Zim had found more than enough plots against the Earth that doesn't involve them. He'll miss Zim, but there isn't anything he can do about it. He needs a new start.

"Hello Dib," Zim smiled in the doorway. He had something hidden behind his back.

"Hello Zim."

Zim takes a few steps into the room. "I heard you were getting out of this germ warehouse today."

Dib sat up straighter in his bed, "Yeah."

"So I guess that means you're well enough to take... This!" Zim quickly threw something at Dib.

Dib screamed, and tried to avoid it, but it was too late. He was covered head to foot in the stuff.

"What is this?" Dib screamed.

"Oh nothing. Just some of your horrible human water." Zim grinned.

"Then why did you throw it at me?"

"I wanted to see if your arms would spark. Also, it was funny watching you panic over a bucket of water." Zim chuckled.

Dib narrowed his eyes at Zim. "Yeah, well we'll see who gets the last laugh."

"Yes, we'll see." Zim smiled. "Well I suppose I should leave you to finish healing. It's been nice talking with you Dib-mess." Zim waved goodbye and marched out the door.

Dib gave the spot Zim was a half smile. "Yeah, it's always a pleasure."

These stupid little bluffs Zim has been doing lately are one of the few things that Dib will miss about this place. But what good is staying in a place where the only thing you'll miss is your worst enemy and the swarm of rat people at the mall. They were actually quite helpful from time to time. But only two things in a city filled with disappointment and frustration. Dib didn't know if any of that was going to leave if he left, but it was worth a try.

Only seconds after Zim left, the nurse came in with his cart of lunch. He set a tray that consisted of dry looking food in front of Dib. There was a ham sandwich, which usually had either too much or to little mayo on it, a cup of fruit salad encased in orange jello, and a carton of milk. The nurse noticed that Dib was completely soaked, and gave a little laugh.

"That's quite a friend you have there," He said.

"Zim's not my friend."

"Sorry, I was a little confused. After all, he seems to be the only person who visits you."

"That's because I'm crazy and no one but an equally crazy person wants to even be near me. Not even my family likes me."

"That's too bad. My father never treated me that great either. At least your father cared enough to give you those new parts. My father would probably just leave be limbless."

"It's not because he cares. This is just an opportunity to test his inventions."

"I see."

"No, you don't."

The nurse didn't argue with him. He just pushed the cart back out of the room and disappeared down the hall. Dib laid back in his bed and gave his lunch a look. He debated on whether or not he was actually going to eat it. The food he got here at the hospital usually was better than at home. Most of the time his dad would forget to buy groceries, and Gaz always got junk food. A ham sandwich usually tasted really good. But he was also feeling a little tired, and the nurse just reminded him of the fact that Zim seems to care more than anyone in the world. Probably the universe. And that had his stomach feeling twisted, if his stomach could still twist.

He picked up the sandwich. The bread felt a little dry, and he could tell that today they were holding back on the mayonnaise. At least today there was a slice of tomato with the sandwich. He took a big bite of the sandwich. It was as dry as it felt, but still tasty. He followed every bite with a drink of milk, and a spoonful of the fruit salad.

The rest of the day was really quiet. A doctor came in to quadruple check on how the machine parts were working with the remaining organic parts. They still couldn't find anything wrong. His father's inventions were usually dependable like that. While every other invention tended to explode or malfunction in some way, his father said it was the way of science, many of them worked better than planned. At least Dib could breath a sigh of relief knowing that this was one of the inventions that worked.

Membrane suddenly burst through the door as the doctor checked the final box on the patient sheet kept in the diagnostic tablet. "Hello son, seeing as the doctors now believe me when I tell them that my inventions are perfect, I've come to take you home."

"Oh, Professor Membrane!" The startled doctor stuttered, "I didn't realize you would be here so quickly. I was just about to phone you."

"No need. I was just in here to offer the hospital my cure for cancer and I detected you've checked the release form box. So I'm here to take my son home!" He boomed, making the poor doctor even more nervous.

"It's fine dad," Dib groaned, "I have my bus pass with me. I can get home by myself."

"Nonsense. What kind of father would I be if I let my son ride the bus after he was released from the hospital?"

"You don't seem to mind me riding the bus any other time. Even when I'm in a place that doesn't get bus service."

"What are you talking about son? You're making me out to be some kind of monster. It must be your insanity acting up. Now come on and get dressed. We're off to home!"

Dib sighed and got ready to leave. As he walked out of the bathroom, the doctor was still stunned by his father's sudden appearance. Dib walked over to the doctor and thanked him. The doctor might not have done that much, but he felt sorry for anyone overpowered by his father's idiocy. And since his father never acknowledged the doctor, Dib felt it was a good idea. Anything to prove to the world that he's nothing like his father.

As he followed his father into the parking lot, he noticed they were walking past all the hover cars. His father walked up to a sleek new sports car and opened it.

"I'm sorry it's not the hover car," His father apologized like it actually meant anything to Dib, "After the accident, I didn't have any transportation, so the boys at the lab gave me the loaner. Turns out a few of the hover sparks were loose, and that's what was making that racket, and made the car break out of park. However, no one was ever able to find out why the seat belts were missing."

"Whatever," Dib sat down in the front seat and stared out the window.

"Do you have any idea where the seat belts went?" His father asked, "Maybe you used them for your para-science? hmm?"

"Maybe they were stolen," Dib said, trying to hold back the snarl. If he gets angry, his father gets angry, and as little his father cares about him, suddenly Dib seems to be in his line of sight, right between the cross hairs.

"By the aliens you keep talking about?"

"No, by a tiny robot disguised as a dog."

His father burst out into laughter. "Oh son, and here I was starting to think you'd never develop your sense of humor like your sister."

"Yeah, I'm all about the laughs," Dib said.

As his father started the car, Dib wondered if he was ever going to make it to move to New York. He weighed the pros and cons of not killing himself right there. If he had to take one more day of having his father mock him, then he was going to take something and shove it through his head.

How can the most brilliant scientist in the world be so thick-headed, short-sighted, and so closed-minded. Dib was counting down the days until he was legally old enough to leave home and not have the police force him back. There were 65 more days. Dib was just trying to get by second by second. Only 65 more days until he's on the road, away from everything and everyone that have made him miserable.

"So, son," Membrane said as he awkwardly tried to start small talk, the man couldn't shut up for five minutes. He loved to hear himself talk too much, "Have you hit puberty yet?"

"Dad, look at me!" Dib cried, "I'm seventeen years old, I hit puberty five years ago. Fuck, even brain dead trailer trash at least keeps track of the fact that their children are nearly old enough to leave."

"Don't use that language young man," his father scolded.

Dib sighed and rubbed his temples. The cold metal cut into his head. It actually helped his head ache a little better. His father kept yammering on about something or another. Dib didn't bother listening, and his father didn't notice that Dib had stopped listening. The man just loved to hear himself talk, and just assumed everyone was listening.

Dib stared out the window as the neighborhood passed by. Only 65 more days until he's gone. He would not miss this at all. He hated his neighbours, he hated how they turned their noses at them, how they kept their lawns, how they kissed his father's ass like it was made of chocolate. Just a few months until all of this is just a repressed memory.


	5. Chapter 5

They came back home. Or rather, Membrane dropped Dib off at home and then drove off so quickly he nearly left a trail of melted rubber on the road. Dib walked back into the house. Gaz was glued to her video game, screaming into the headset about her team mates being a bunch of noobs.

Dib shrugged away the lack of a welcome back home from the hospital banner. It was just another day in the Membrane house. Another day to ignore Dib unless he's doing something that's in their way. It was why he loved his over night missions spying at Zim's house, or looking for vampires, or waiting for ancient beings to come from the netherworld. Anything was better than Gaz bullying him, or his father mocking him. When he was investigating, none of them were there unless he wanted them to be.

He went straight to his room and sat at his computer. He turned on the monitor, which revealed at this computer had shut down while he was away. It was programmed to shut down and lock all desk tops and all programs until a bio-scan that he stole from Zim's base would confirm the user.

He started up the computer. Usually he'd scan his hand, but now that the skin, muscle, tendons and bone was gone from his hands, he had to use his face. He would probably have to reprogram the scanner to perform a broader scan. Once he got everything up and running again, he checked the back log of video from Zim.

Zim didn't do anything different than he usually did. Walked around his house, sometimes in his disguise, sometimes without it, he ate waffles, he thought up of childish pranks for Dib. He listened to Zim talk to GIR about his plot to splash Dib with water.

Dib leaned back in his chair. What was Zim doing with all these childish pranks that seemed to get more and more childish as time went on? When Dib finally caught up with the back footage, skipping most of the boring bits, he turned on the running footage. As the computer struggled to switch from the past footage to the live images, Dib got a better idea. It has been so long since he had actually gone out to spy on Zim, now that he was out of the hospital, it was the perfect time to do so.

Dib was almost ready to pounce on Zim. He could see Zim through the window, looking out every now and then. All Dib needed to do was think up of a plan to get Zim back for throwing water at him while he was in the hospital. Dib didn't want to throw water back because for Zim it would be a worse attack than what he did to Dib, and this was about getting even, not doing something worse, besides Dib forgot his bucket in his room, and he was not about to go home to get it.

Zim wanders away from the window to do something inside. Dib could see the top of his head as it sank down into the floor of his house. Good, Zim was about to go into his labs. He'll be distracted for the next few hours, now is the best time to strike.

Dib put his binoculars back into their place in his jacket and stood out of the bush. In two seconds we was surrounded by men with guns and masks. At first he thought that it was the SWAT team, but when he saw the logo on their uniforms and the logo on the vans, he started wishing that it was the SWAT team. His father had just sent his personal army after Dib. What was going on.

"Dib Membrane, by order of Professor Membrane we are here to take you to his labs where you will receive your training to become one of the prestigious world scientists," One of the Membrane soldiers said robotic ally, which wasn't a surprise because he was in fact a robot. They all were.

"And what if I don't want to?" Dib asked.

"We've been ordered by Professor Membrane to take you to his labs, where you will receive your training to become one of the prestigious world scientists," The robot repeated.

"But what if we're already there?" Dib taunted, he knew these robots, they were extremely dumb. This wasn't the first time his father had sent robots to try and make him study real science, and he'll just handle them like last time. "If we're already there," He continued, "Then you've already completed your objective, and you'll leave me alone."

"Negative," The robot rattled, "We are not at Membrane labs. We've been ordered by Professor Membrane to take you to his labs, where you will receive your training to become one of the prestigious world scientists. Resistance is futile. If you wish to resist, we've been programed to sedate and bind you. If you come of your own free will, such force can be avoided. Resisting has a .00001% chance of succeeding and a 95% chance it will end in your termination."

"I like those odds," Dib said and tried to push through the wall of robots.

Before he could even take a step towards freedom, he could feel a shock run through his body, making his legs curl up, and the touch sensors report pain. The robots were standing around, waiting for him to stop fighting. Dib had lost all control over his arms and legs. He could still try to escape by rolling, but he had the feeling that his arms and legs would stop him from that. The robots moved in a little, but he didn't do anything to get away.

"Thank you for setting off the EEM and ending your resistance. We shall now escort you to Membrane labs without delay."

One of the robots picked Dib up and they all started rolling down the road. Dib looked up at Zim's house. Zim was standing in the window again. GIR was waving good bye to Dib, while Zim just stared. He looked shocked. He must be, he couldn't even finish putting on his disguise before coming to watch Dib be taken away by robots. Dib wondered if Zim was happy his enemy is being kidnapped, or if he was upset that it wasn't him who was getting rid of Dib.

They robots carried him through town. Every now and then someone would stare, and the children who saw would point and laugh. Some of the people who knew him would shout, "Hey Dib, are they finally locking you up for good?" Dib blocked them all out. He actually had become quite good at blocking people out because if he didn't, he probably would have gone insane for real.

The robots kept going until they reached Membrane labs. They whirled through the halls, going deeper and deeper into the building. They must have past every science wing known to the public, and then every science wing not known. They reached a dirty looking door that looks like it has been there for centuries. They go through the door into an equally grubby room, with Membrane standing in the middle of it.

"Set him down there. Your job is completely." Membrane said.

The robots set Dib down and left the room, locking the door behind them. Professor Membrane pushed a button on the small device he kept on his arm, and Dib's arms and legs released. Dib stretched his arms for the sake of moving them again and stood up.

"I'm sorry it has come to this," Professor Membrane said, "But after years and years of persuasion, I found I have no choice." He started pacing around the room. "You see, I hoped that I could spare you the pain I went through as a child, but you continue to ignore me, so I must show you the way my father and his father did, that all these things you insist of chasing don't exist."

"Wait," Dib said, "Your father? You believed in aliens too?"

"Of course not! Don't be silly. I was chasing down these fairies I thought lived under the house, and occasionally Santa Clause because he kept giving me socks. But as time went on, my father grew frustrated with my behavior and after building the fortes against Santa and other fairies, he did all he could to show me me none of them existed." He turned to Dib. "Just as I will show you that your paranormal gobbley goop is just as fictional, because, you see son, imaginations have no place in real science."

"What are you going to do?" Dib asked. His father believed in fairies? No, his father found fairies? And he stopped believing when his father did something to him. What happened to twist Membrane so much.

"Anything it takes." A pained look formed on Membrane's face. "I'm so sorry son, but you're so much like your old man. I know this is going to be hard at first, but soon I'll make sure you're all better. And soon you'll be like me! Studying real science!" Membrane boomed with a large grin on his face, but Dib saw something he never saw before. As his dad declared, real science, a tear rolled down his cheek.

"I've got your room all set up. I'll let you get comfortable while I set up your lesson."

Membrane grabbed Dib by the arm and pulled him into a small dark room. It was so small that Dib couldn't even turn around. It was a two foot by two foot cell with a ceiling that brushed against the tall piece of hair on Dib's head that always stood up. The only thing that broke from the feel of cold cement, was the icy feel of the metal door. Dib listened as Membrane's foot steps faded away and all that was left was the silence so thick it started to make its own sound.

Time seemed to cease to exist while standing in that room. He could have sworn that a day has passed, but for all he knew, it was a few minutes. The only way to tell any sort of time was passing was to listen to his heart, which had started beating in his ears. The spot were his body met the robotic legs was starting to get sore. He wanted to lay down to put the weight off that spot, but he couldn't even move his arms.

Then the door opened. Dib blinked the ache of suddenly being flashed with light out of his eyes. He had just gotten used to not seeing anything, and now his vision was a mix of black spots and the very little he could actually see. When his eyes adjusted to the new light, he could see his father had set something up. There was a projector lighting up the wall, and a wooden chair sitting in front of the wall.

"It's time to start," His father said. His voice had taken on a new tone. Rather than his boisterous style, he spoke in a slow and careful way. "You'll start by unlearning all the nonsense you've picked up over the years, then we'll start teaching you the right things." It almost didn't sound like him.

His father pulled Dib out of the room and strapped him to the chair. Dib tried to run away, but every time he moved a limb to run away, he would go limp and Membrane would drag him to the chair. When Dib was all strapped up, Membrane covered him in electrodes and strapped some sort of helmet to Dib's head.

"I'm so sorry about this son. But I gave you the chance to join me of your own free will, now will have to suffer through the family tradition."

Membrane turned on the projector and left the room. Dib could hear something whirl inside the projector as the smell of burning dust rose from it. Soon, something flickered on the wall and a series of pictures popped up. They started with mundane things: houses, dogs, coffee mugs that read 'Coffee Break". And then came a picture of an alien.

A painful shock ran through Dib's body as soon as he saw the picture. More pictures came. A few more mundane objects, then a vampire, a ghost, a big foot. With each each image of a paranormal creature, the shocks got worse. Soon Dib couldn't even think, his thoughts were scrambled by the shocks. He tried to not look at them by closing his eyes and looking away, but every time he looked away, he got a shock.

Tears ran down Dib's cheeks. After a while he couldn't tell when he was being shocked, or if he was just feeling the pain from the last shock. He sat in that chair for hours, watching images flash by, and feeling the shocks. Eventually he couldn't even feel them anymore because his whole body had become numb. He wasn't even sure if his heart was working anymore.

Finally it ran out of pictures and Dib was able to breath again. He was sure he was smoking, he thinks he smells smoke, but it might be from the projector, or possibly the shocks messed up his nose. He didn't bother checking, he didn't have the strength to lift up his head.

Membrane walked back into the room. He detached Dib from the chair and carried him back to the room. He stuffed Dib into it and slammed the door before Dib fell out. Dib leaned against the icy door. It felt so good against his burning skin. He didn't have the strength to stand up. He sank down to the floor. It was a tight fit. He didn't even have enough room to make it to the floor, but it was good enough.

Dib buried his face in his knees and cried. He wanted to go home. He wanted to go away. If he survived this, he never wanted to leave his room again. He would rather be anywhere but here. The cold of the room took away the sting that made his body ache, but it also took away any heat in Dib's body. He felt lost in this small space of darkness.


	6. Chapter 6

More time went by. Dib couldn't tell if a night passed, or maybe just a few hours. He didn't know how often he would be receiving these lessons. His body still buzzed from the shock treatment he received. He was still in his half sitting position. Hours ago he tried to stand up, but he was stuck.

Being in that room was making him crazy. He felt the walls getting smaller, it felt as if they were squeezing the air out of his lungs. The dark made it feel like he was about to fall any second now. That he was hovering over a bottomless pit, and that any second now everything will give up and he will fall into cold darkness forever.

The insanity was really starting to get to him. He was sure he was starting to hear things. It sounded like the walls were rumbling and shaking. It felt as if the entire building was being torn apart. He was only thrown in here a little while ago and already he was loosing it. He has to fight this. He won't become like his dad. He's better than that. His father threw away his dreams of capturing Santa, but Dib won't throw away his dreams of becoming a real paranormal investigator.

As time, or what scraps of time was left, passed, the sounds and feel of the walls shaking grew louder. Like something was coming closer. Dib squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't want to go insane. He didn't want to prove his father right. He didn't want to be a scientist. He didn't want all these things to happen.

Just as he started running through all the things he didn't want, the door is pulled of its hinges. Dib falls to the floor. he blinks a few times to try and get his vision back. At first all he could see was a fuzzy green spot, but as everything clears up, he could make out Zim's face.

''Zim?'' Dib asked, his voice felt so loud, but at the same time it felt as if it only came out in a whisper.

''That's right stink boy. No one but Zim should ever toss you into a tiny cell. Now come on, I don't want to wait for a stupid pig-smelly.''

Zim threw Dib's arm around his neck and took most of Dib's weight, which wasn't much. Dib tried to get to his feet, but his legs detected that he was trying to escape and curled up on him again. Zim cursed something under his breath, and lifted Dib into his arms and pulled out his spider legs to start running.

"You know this makes us even again," Dib muttered.

"What are you talking about? After saving you from all of this, you owe Zim!"

"No, remember, I helped you melt the hail stones from destroying you base."

"Because it was going to destroy your precious city. But if you want to call it even, then I guess I can admit that I have no use for your pathetic human services."

"No?" Dib said, "Then why is it that when ever something goes wrong, I'm always the one bailing you out?"

They went back and forth over which one of them helps the other one out the most. Even though his brain was still a little scrambled from the shocks, Dib managed to out argue Zim by bringing in the Tak argument, but even after, Zim still tried to argue.

Zim carried Dib up to the roof, past the explosions that Zim had either set up, or were just part of the aftermath of Zim's daring rescue. Dib would almost be impressed if he didn't know that Zim was only saving him because Zim wanted to be the one who took Dib down, just like Dib wanted to be the one who took Zim down. It was an unspoken agreement that the fight is between the two of them, and no one will get in the way of that.

"Hurry up won't you?" Dib cried out as he saw guards with electric guns getting closer.

"I would, if you weren't so heavy! Why don't you stop crawling up like the worm you are and just walk!" Zim said, holding Dib out like he's about to drop him.

"Do you think I want you carrying me! These stupid limbs move my themselves! They're under my father's control!" Dib squirmed a bit as if to show that he had no control over his arms and legs.

"I guess that's what you get for being suck a weakling," Zim laughs.

"I'm not a..." Dib was cut short as a bolt of electricity grazed the top of his hair, "Hurry up! We don't want to be caught by those things!"

"Don't tell Zim what to do! Zim was dodging weapon fire before even your parental figure could walk!" Zim didn't look at Dib, but Dib could see that an arrogant smile spread on Zim's mouth, "And obviously before you could walk."

"Just get me out of here so we can pretend like none of this had ever happened."

"Why? Don't you want to admit that Zim is great?"

"Why? There's nothing to admit," Dib laughed.

Zim snorted and got to the roof. He slammed the door and used the lasers in his pack to fuse the metal door to its frame. He then threw Dib into the voot cruiser and it flew off. Dib groaned from landing in the small space and being bounced around from Zim's choppy flying.

Zim grunted in confusion as the voot cruiser started beeping like crazy seconds after they took off. He cursed under his breath as he randomly pressed buttons. It seemed to work because a holographic screen filled with Irken writing came up. The writing scrolled down at a near lightening pace as Zim nodded at it.

"Dib!" He yelled, making Dib jump. "You're arms transmitting some sort of horrible frequency that's affecting the voot's navigation. If I don't stop it, the voot isn't going much further."

"So what are you going to do?" Dib asked, a little scared of the answer.

Dib couldn't see Zim's face, but he could easily picture the crazed smile Zim got whenever he was excited about something. Zim gave a soft chuckle as he started pushing more buttons and sliding his claws along the holographic screen. Nothing much seemed to happen for a while, then a whirling sound came from behind Dib, and a large shock ran through Dib's body and into his arms and legs, sending more pain into his brain. Dib screamed out and scrambled to his feet to try and escape whatever was shocking him. He cried out as he bumped his head hard on the top of the cruiser.

Zim pushed a few more buttons, and nodded, "Good, that should short out the frequency for a while." Zim turned his head to peak back at Dib. "And it seems it fixed your limbs. Pathetic human technology." He cackled.

Dib flexed his hands and arms, happy to finally have control over his own body. He sat back down and stared out at the clouds whip past them. The world was really beautiful from this height. It almost took his mind off the fact that his father tried to torture him into real science and he had to be saved by Zim.

Dib took a quick look at Zim who seemed focused on where he was going. Zim, his enemy, had to save him. He couldn't fight and he needed to rely on his enemy to save him. It made Dib feel a little sick. The only upside to this was the knowledge that Zim would throw everything down to save him. Zim didn't have to save him, he didn't ask Zim to save him, but he did. Dib wondered why Zim would put his mission on the line to save him.

The cruiser climbed higher until Dib was looking down on clouds that coated the view, and soon he could see the entire Earth in one glance. The beautiful blue marble he called home. The home he had to protect against Zim. Dib knew where Zim was taking him. His satellite base orbiting around Earth. Dib's been there more than a dozen times, he knew exactly where the escape pods were, where the teleporters were, and where the weapons were. Zim had a few very powerful collection of weapons. It made Dib grateful that Zim wanted to take over the Earth in a little more strategic manor rather than bruit force.

Zim clumsily landed the voot in the landing bay of the station, and pulled Dib along with him. Dib stumbled along, tripping over every single thing that Zim pulled him over. It was hard to walk when someone barely half his height had hold of the collar of his shirt. With the way Zim's claws were digging into his shirt, Dib knew that there were going to be big holes by the end of this.

"Hey! What are you doing?"

"I don't want to spend the rest of my time on Earth saving your pathetic butt," Zim said, "I'm gonna take out whatever is in your limbs. I saw how quickly you were cornered, there are tracking devices in you, and no doubt some foolish programing to control your limbs."

"What's it to you?"

"You're mine, Dib," Zim said with malice in his voice, "And if anyone is going to destroy your mind, it's going to be me."

"Fine," Dib said.

At least Zim's excuse made sense. And he probably was telling the truth about not wanting his father finding Dib. Zim would probably put his own devices in Dib's arms and legs, but anything would be better than what his father was planning. At first Dib thought loosing to Zim and having to watch Earth blow up would be the worst case scenario, but after maybe one day under his father's control, Dib realized that there are a million worst things.

Zim let go of Dib's shirt, letting Dib stand up straight. Zim curled his lip a bit at Dib's height, but Zim had been doing that for years. It always felt like a victory for him every time he saw that look on Zim's face. Dib followed Zim through the station to the medical center. Dib knew the drill. This isn't the first time Zim had brought him to the medical center.

The last time Dib was there, he woke up on the table. Zim wasn't looking, so Dib managed to get away. Dib didn't know exactly what Zim did to him, he didn't feel any different, and after some tests using his father's equipment, he couldn't find anything different. He probably woke up too early and Zim didn't have a chance to do anything. He didn't have much of a memory of what happened before Zim brought him up.

When they got to the medical center, Zim gestured for Dib to sit on that table. Dib shrugged and did so. Zim started shuffling around the room, pushing things around, and gathering equipment. He put his collection of tools on the metal table next to Dib. The tools clanged on the table as Zim observed what he gathered.

"OK, Dib. I'll have to do this without anesthesia. I've run out of chemicals that would make you sleep without killing you. But don't worry, with your improved limbs, it should go much faster. I'm much more familiar with gears than pathetic human flesh."

Dib laid down. "Just get started already. I'm getting tired of your voice."

"Maybe if I talk enough, you'll get tired enough that I won't have to use anesthesia."

"It's not that kind of tired."

"Fine," Zim reached up and a large panel came down from the ceiling. It started glowing as Zim positioned it over Dib. "Now hold still. I need to find where I'm working, and this thing hurts." Zim flicked a switch and it started to hum as it charged up. "A lot."


	7. Chapter 7

"Done!" Zim cried out in triumph.

Hours of sitting on that hard table, almost naked no less. Hours of having Zim messing around in his arms and legs, hitting every artificial nerve in them. Hours of screaming in agony with no sign of relief. Several times Dib had passed out while Zim worked, and every so often Zim would make a little slip and hit another nerve, waking Dib up. But now it was over. Dib rubbed his sore arms out of habit. He knew rubbing wouldn't help. He sat up, letting his legs dangle over the edge of the table.

"Not only have I removed any tracers, transmitters, and any other kinds of tampering, but I've managed to improve your pathetic human self," Zim proclaimed like he invented gravity.

"Improve?" Dib asked, "How?"

Zim chuckled. Dib hated him Zim chuckled. It always meant he did something bad. "See, for yourself."

Dib checked his arms and legs. There didn't seem to be anything off about them. He made sure to memorize every part before Zim started tampering with them, but there didn't seem to be anything wrong. He looked at Zim, who wouldn't stop grinning. Dib started to have a sinking feeling in his stomach. He felt around his back just to make sure Zim didn't put a Pak on him, but everything felt like normal.

"What did you do?" Dib yelled, slamming his hand down on the table.

A cracking sound came from where he slammed down. Dib paused, and stared at Zim harder. Zim's smile seemed to grow. Dib looked down at his hand and saw he crushed something underneath it. He picked up the item and observed it. It was hard to tell at first because of the way he bent it out of shape, but those were definitely his glasses.

It took him a little longer to really understand what Zim had changed. Dib brought his hands up to his eyes. He could hear the sound of metal tapping metal. Dib gasped and scrambled off the table. He couldn't move his legs fast enough to get to turn around and look into the smooth metal surface of the table. They looked like his eyes did, the same colour and shape, but as he felt them, they definitely felt fake.

"You stole my eyes?" Dib asked.

"I improved them. Your last eyes were damaged. See how great you can see. You have Irkin technology in you, the best technology in the universe," Zim said like Dib should be impressed.

"You stole my eyes!"

"Weren't you listening corn breath? You have the best eyes in the universe, be pleased!"

"When did you take my eyes?"

"The second time you passed out. But I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that a third rate species wouldn't be able to stay conscious during a procedure like that."

"Why?"

"They were pathetic, even by human standards. If Zim is going to show the world how great he is, I can't be expected to settle for a human with damaged eyes."

"Great," Dib moaned.

"I guess it's too difficult for a lowly species to truly understand how awesome a gift I had given you." Zim left the room.

Dib stared for a while. Usually Zim would use it as a chance to gloat. What was wrong with him? Dib wandered around the room for a bit, hoping to find something that he can use the next time Zim tries to pull anything, but the only thing he could find was a chart in Irkin writing. He could make out a few words, but most of it was indecipherable.

He left the chart where it was. It probably was nothing important. He might as well go home now. Dib started to walk out the door, but then he paused. He can't go home anymore. His father is probably searching the entire city for him, and when he can't find him, he'll start searching the world.

Dib covered his face and groaned into his hand. Why did he have to be the son of the most powerful scientist in the world? Why couldn't he be the son of a used car salesman? He could find someplace to lay low. If he found someplace to hide, his father couldn't find him. Zim might be an idiot most of the time, but when it comes to devices, he is usually quite good. But he just needs some place he can blend in.

New York! A city that large would be easy to hide in. He could leave the country, but he always wanted to go to New York. Maybe check the sewers for any alligator people. Maybe he will find some people who share his interest in the paranormal. Maybe some people who share his interest who are not idiots or insane. The more Dib thought about it, the less likely that seemed, but it was worth a shot.

Dib took another look at his face. It looked so weird without his glasses. He was practically born with those glasses on. Dib ran his hand through his hair, pushing down the single curly piece that always stood up. It bounced back into place, standing as straight as his father's. Dib reached for something sharp, and with a knife looking tool, he sliced it off. He couldn't afford anyone recognizing him.

Dib took one last look at his new self: no glasses and a hair cut. It wasn't much of a change, but Dib felt he looked like a different person, and he had a feeling that if it was so different to him, then there was no chance that anyone would recognize him.

He wound his way through the station until he reached the escape pods. It looked like Zim had some time to put new ones in. It's a good thing that Zim did, because they always seemed to crash all the old ones. Although that was more because of bad flying.

Dib climbed into the closest one and started it up. As much as he hated Zim, he definitely liked Zim's technology. The hum of the escape pod sent shivers down Dib's spine. While most kids were excited over fresh chocolate chip cookies, he got excited over alien technology. Not that he ever had fresh chocolate chip cookies. He didn't have a mom to show him how to make them. And his dad would rather build something so he didn't have to spend any time with his kids. But alien technology was so much better than anything that could be made in the kitchen.

The escape pod smoothly left the station. After years of practicing, Dib was getting pretty good at controlling these things. Although he would never be as good as Gaz. She seemed to be able to learn anything quickly. Sometimes he wondered if she was even human, but that was stupid. If she wasn't human, then he wouldn't be human either, and he knew he was human. If he wasn't human, then what was the point in working so hard to protect the human race.

Dib randomly hit some buttons like usual. He never bothered to find out what each of the buttons do, all he knew was if he pushed them the right way, the screen would come up and he could set in his coordinates. As he started typing where he wanted to go, he had to stop half-way. He was typing in home again. Dib erased the numbers he put in, and changed them to a farm area outside of New York. If he was going to crash, he didn't want to crash in a populated area. It would be difficult to explain why he was there.

The pod kicked into gear and Dib was pressed against the back of the seat as the pod rips across Earth's atmosphere. Things rushed by him so quickly, he could barely lift his hand. Suddenly, the pod halts in mid-air, and several bangs could be heard from the engines in the back. The pod starts spinning back towards the Earth, out of control.

Dib screams in surprise as he tries to hit the eject button, but it doesn't seem to be working. No matter how many times he pressed it, nothing happened. The button only made a beeping sound, which Dib couldn't tell if it meant that the button was broken or if the eject system was broken.

"Come on!" Dib screams at the panel as the escape pod hurdles through the city.

The escape pod continues to spin out of control until it crashes into the middle of a park. Dib holds tightly to the seat as the pod grinds into the ground, moving deeper and deeper into the park until coming to a stop under an oak. For a few seconds Dib holds his breath, but when it seems that nothing else is going to happen, he lets out the anxiety.

"Eject initiating!" A mechanical voice echoed through the pod.

Dib barely had time to curse as the pod flew open, throwing him out of. Dib crashed face first into the tree, groaning in pain as he slid back to the ground. Something about flying face first into a tree felt familiar for some reason. He had hit his face on a lot of things, but he couldn't remember ever flying into a tree. Maybe it was something Zim implanted into his mind. He had more than a few memories like that.

Dib rubbed his sore face. He wondered how much of his face was still his. Being thrown into a tree by an alien eject system a three yards away should have caved his skull in. But from the feel of things, the only damage was a few cuts and bruises. Either he was the luckiest person in the world, which was more laughable than his father ever believing him, or his skull has been replaced. The only question was, was it Membrane or Zim who replaced his skull.

"Dude! I didn't think aliens came in human form!"

"What?" Dib asked dumbly as he looked around.

Not far off was a pot head sitting under one of the trees. He had a joint between his fingers, which glowed as he inhaled some of the smoke. The guy kept looking at him for a while, then he held out the joint.

"Dude, as ambassador of the human race, I offer this token of peace. Or something like that."

"Thanks, but I'm not an alien," Dib said, "And I don't smoke dope. Or whatever you have there."

"No problem, dude. I totally understand." He brought the joint back to his lips and smoked the rest. He coughed a bit before putting it out. "So, dude, if you're not an alien, what you're doing in a space ship?"

"I stole it from an alien," Dib said, "By the way, where am I?"

"Dude, you're in Central Park. And if you really stole that thing from an alien, then that totally qualifies you to join our group. We, like, investigate paranormal and supernatural events, and like, try to find all the things that people ignore. And like, stuff like that."

"Wait," Dib said, "You're a paranormal investigator?"

"That's what I said, dude. We investigate paranormal and supernatural events, like ghosts, Bigfoot, aliens, you know, all the things the government doesn't want us to know." The stoner walked up to Dib and leaned towards him. "Did you know that there's this organization that wants to catalogue all the paranormal events and keep them from the average citizen? They're called the pink eye, or red eye, or eyeballs, or something like that. I totally can't remember."

"Swollen eyeball?" Dib asked.

"Yeah, totally dude. You know them?" The stoner stared at him with wide, bloodshot, eyes.

"I used to be a part of them. But they kicked me out because I was too unstable."

"Then, dude, you'll fit in nicely with The Ghosters. Come on, we're having a meeting in an hour or so," He took a look at his watch, "Ten minutes. Come on, dude."

Dib shrugged and followed him. What was the worst that could happen. Actually, Dib could think of a few things, but it didn't seem to be anything he couldn't handle. After all, what are the chances of running into a fellow paranormal investigator. Sure he might be baked at the moment, but he probably doesn't do this all the time. After all, investigating requires a clear head.

Just as the reached the edge of the park, the stoner stopped in his tracks, "Oh, by the way dude, my name is Kyle." He held out his hand.

Dib took his hand. "And my name is Di..." He trained off. He couldn't give out his real name. When his father starts looking for him, everyone is going to know his name. And what if this guy was just someone hired by his father to trick him. "Josh," Dib quickly said, "My name is Josh."

"Cool name, dude," Kyle said, and continued on.


	8. Chapter 8

On the other side of the street from the park was a small dinner named The Soggy Donut. Dib could help wondering how they got any business with such an unappealing name. He and Kyle jaywalked across the road, dodging a few cars that were speeding through.

As they approached the dinner, Dib caught his reflection in the window. He stared at himself for a while. He looked like a completely different person. It was amazing how a quick hair cut, and it looked like a quick hair cut, and removing the glasses changed his look. He still couldn't shake the shock of seeing himself like this.

Kyle pulled Dib into dinner and to a group of people. There were four other people there. two girls and two boys, all still teenagers. half of them had the same glazed look in their eyes that Kyle did. Even if this was a paranormal investigation team, they probably spent more time high than actually investigating.

"Hey dudes and dudettes!" Kyle said enthusiastically, "This is dude, Josh, and he has an honest to god space ship."

"Well, it's really an escape pod." Dib said, trying to sound modest, but it felt good to have someone excited about him.

"But, dude, it totally came from this alien and he stole it from it."

"Kyle, I think you've had too much weed," One of the girls said. She was the only girl who didn't look stoned. She was pretty. She had a coppery brown hair that was cut at her shoulders. Her pale blue eyes looked like they were taken from the sky. Her thin lips pressed together, making it look like she was always in thought. "You'll believe anything."

"No, Jane, I totally saw him crash. Dude, we should totally show then and prove that I didn't just make it up."

"Are you serious? That's awesome!" A guy who looked like he was more baked than Kyle said. A skull hat hid most of his brownish hair.

"Oh, dude, before I totally forget," Kyle said, "That's Tyler," He pointed to the one in the skull hat. "He's my best bud. That's Japlin," He pointed to one of the girls. She had blonde hair, and a hard stare that sized him up. "She's my sister and our leader, and she's not usually like this, but it's been a tough couple of weeks. And that's X," he pointed to a boy with white spiked hair, who gave Dib a quick wave before recrossing his arms. "We don't know much about him. He won't even tell us his name, so we just call him X. And that's Jane," He pointed to the the girl with coppery brown hair and pale blue eyes. She gave Dib a shy smile. "And everyone, this is Josh."

"You already said," X said briskly.

"I know, dude, but I thought I'd say it again. Now come on dudes, we've got to get to the space ship before the government does."

"Charge!" Tyler cried out and ran out of the dinner.

Everyone just started at each other for a while, and then followed him. They walked back to the crash site, where the escape pod was still sitting. It looked like it dug itself a few feet into the ground. If it hadn't thrown Dib up, he probably would have had a mouth full of dirt rather than a face full of tree, if that was even worse.

"Holly crap!" Japlin said, "That's really a space ship."

"It's an escape pod from Zim's space station."

"Zim? Is that the name of the alien?" X asked.

"Uh, yeah. He's been my enemy for years now, ever since I was a kid," Dib said.

"Amazing," Jane said, talking more about the ship rather than the fact that Dib had been fighting an alien half his life. "So what are we going to do with this?" She asked Japlin.

"Well, I think we should hide it first," Dib said.

"Excuse me, I'm the leader of this group, and I'm the one who makes the decisions," Japlin said, poking Dib in the chest as she got in his face. "But you're right. This is our ship now and we should keep it away anyone else who wants it."

"Awesome idea dude," Kyle said, "Let's get this sweet thing to the secret hideout."

"It's Japlin's garage. She's the only one of us who has their own place," Tyler whispered to Dib.

Everyone gathered around the escape pod and grabbed a side. Dib grabbed hold of the nose and Japlin coordinated them to the edge of the park before running off to get her truck. As they waited for her, Kyle and Tyler caught Dib up on some of the things they were investigating.

"The one's we're having the hardest time on are the alligator people," Tyler said, "Those sewers are their domain or something and they can get away before we even remember to take the lens cap off."

"Dude, why do cameras even need lens caps anyway?"

"Uh... I think it's to protect the lens so that it's not scratched up when you take a picture," Dib said.

"It should be a necessary risk," Tyler said, "Do you know how many paranormal events that could have been recorded if no one had lens caps on?"

"Yeah," Dib said, rolling his eyes then he looked over at X, "So, what's your opinion on the lens cap issue?"

"I prefer not to get involved when they get into stupid conversations like that. They never end and have a way of lowering your IQ by just listening to a few minutes of them," X said. He was leaning against the ship, keeping an eye out for Japlin.

Dib turned to Jane, who was pacing in a small circle as she waited for Japlin. "So, what do you think?" He asked her.

She stopped like he had suddenly asked about her secret identity. "What?"

"About lens caps."

"Oh," She said, looking down for a second before quickly meeting his eyes, "They're OK, I guess."

"OK," Dib said.

"So, dude," Kyle said, "Since you just crashed here, do you have anyplace to, you know, crash?"

"Not really. I was sort of thinking I'd spend the night on a park bench."

"You can stay at my place. I have an extra room that I've only been using to store stuff, but I could always throw it out. I've been wanting a roommate."

"Really? But why? You just met me."

"It's no biggy Josh," Tyler said, "You're one of us now."

"Really?"

"Of course, dude. You are the only one of us who's actually seen an alien. You're probably like the most experienced of us. You've probably have even found big foot or something but no one listens and stuff."

"One or twice. They like to steal stuff from my dad's garage. He always blamed me though."

"Wow, sounds tough. But hey, you're here now and we're friends, mi casa es su casa, you know."

"Thanks. You know, no one has ever called me their friend before."

"That's because us paranormalists have to stick together, dude."

"Yeah," Dib said softly.

Japlin ran up to them. "Hey, come on, we've got to get this thing home. We still have investigating to do."

"Really?" Dib asked.

"Yeah, yesterday Jane found evidence of the Albino-Alligator People's village. It's somewhere just under the park. We're gonna find them, and expose them," Tyler said.

"Or we see if they can help us with other investigations. There are lots of things under this city, and I heard the Alligator People are right in the middle of it," Japlin said.

"Dude, either way it's going to be awesome."

"Yeah," Japlin agreed, "But first we have to get this ship back to our hide out before anyone sees it."

Everyone worked to heave the ship onto the back of the truck. It was tough because they could barely drag it along, but with a lot of effort, they managed to push into into the bed of Japlin's Ford and cover most of it with their jackets tied together with a role of twine Kyle keeps in the truck 'just in case.' Kyle feels that twine is one of nature's gifts and you should never go without it.

"Cause, dude, what if, like, you're belt breaks, or you're about to fall off a building, or something. What would you rather have? A piece of gum or a piece of twine?" He nodded his head like he just said the most profound thing ever, but Dib felt that the most profound thing about what he said was the fact that he said it.

"Well, it depends on the gum."

"Exactly! Dude!"

Dib rolled his eyes and got into the back seat of the truck. It was a tight fit with all six of them in that truck. There was barely enough room for five people, so it was tough squeezing six people, but they managed. There wasn't enough room to buckle up seat belts, but they were squished up close enough that chances were none of them were going to be thrown out of the car during a collision. Japlin and Kyle got the front seats while Dib, X, Jane and Tyler were squeezed into the back.

"Ow, Josh, what is with your arms?" Tyler complained, "It's like they're made of rocks."

"That's because they're not my arms."

"You've got robot arms?" Kyle said, turning around in his seat, "Dude, that's awesome."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Dude, that's completely terminator. You're like a cyborg or something."

"Well, since he has limbs replaced with working mechanical parts, then he probably is one," Jane said, making everyone look at her, "Just saying," She added and looked away, trying to squeeze into a smaller space than she already was in.

"Dude, that's awesome," Kyle said.

They kept talking about Dib's prosthetic for the rest of the ride to their hideout. Dib felt a little embarrassed that he didn't have a cooler story to tell them, but they actually seemed interested in what he had to say. It's been so long since he's had a reason to be happy, but now he's surrounded by people who are genuinely interested in him. People who aren't calling him crazy or trying to kill him or torture him or ignore him. They were listening, and talking with him.

When they got to the hideout, which wasn't that far from the park, Dib had a bigger smile on his face than when thought he found the first person in his life who actually believed him. It turned out that he was just some guidance councilor trying to trick Dib into relieving what was "really" troubling him, but those first few moments were nice and probably one of the best of his life, but this moment trumps it by leaps and bounds. These people really believed in him, sure most of them were stoned, but they looked like they knew what they were talking about, and if they could act so nonchalant about a crashed space ship, then they are probably good enough to stick around.

They hid the escape pod at the back of the garage, right next to all the space debris and other alien items, most of which were things Zim dropped. There were so many things stuffed into this garage it made Dib's piles of Zim's junk look like a mild interest. While Dib was gazing at all the treasures, Japlin gave Dib a spare map they had made of the sewers and tunnels while searching for the Albino-Alligator People so that he wouldn't get lost.

"Are you ready to help us in our quest to discover the supernatural?" Japlin asked.

"I've been ready my whole life."

Japlin smiled at him. "Great. Let's get moving."


	9. Chapter 9

Dib kept close to them as the group pushed through the damp tunnel. They had found a small tunnel that led away from the mucky sewers into cleaner tunnels. There wasn't much room to stand up in, but that's probably because it wasn't meant for people to walk through. Every so often a rat would run past their feet, making Jane cry out every time one brushed against her leg, but it was just them and the silence.

It was a tight fit from every angle. They had to walk single file so that they would fit through. Despite having a flashlight at the back, there wasn't much to see. Dib would get the quick view of other tunnels, most of which were too small to even crawl through, but there was little to take away from the unending appearance of the tunnels. Dib used the flashlight to take a quick look at the map. They still had a long ways to go before they reached some of the uncharted areas, where they thought the alligator people lived.

As they were halfway to the uncharted point on the map, Jane gave out her loudest scream yet. It was a ear shattering screech that kept echoing down the tunnels.

"What, did a rat brush past your leg again?" Tyler asked.

"No, I think I saw one of the alligator people down that that tunnel, only it was green. Is it possible that they come in green as well as albino?"

"Probably not," Japlin said, "After all they are Albino-Alligator People. But you really saw something?"

"I think so. I mean, it's gone now, but I know I saw something."

"Dude, maybe it was a sick rat!"

Jane squealed at the thought. Dib gave Kyle a smack on his back. Japlin pushed everyone forward and they walked past the event. Dib flashed his light down the tunnel Jane must have been talking about. At first he didn't see anything, just a tunnel going down so far that it just faded into black, but suddenly something green dropped from the top of it.

It was so dim that it took a moment for Dib to realize what he was seeing, but when he did, he nearly cried out like Jane. Zim waved for Dib to follow him. Dib looked back to the group, who had kept moving, then back to Zim. Zim kept signaling for Dib to come like he had something to say. Dib took another look at the group, they were far enough that they probably won't hear him, so he signaled to Zim to come. There was no way that he was following Zim. Zim strolled towards Dib, unaffected by the small size of the tunnels.

"I finally found you. Do you know how complicated these stupid tunnels are? Even the wormy Zuslkea didn't create mazes this complex. Why do you humans have these stupid tunnels? They're almost to small for your big head!"

"Well, luckily you're so small, otherwise you'd get stuck in the sewers."

"Now, when you humans say sewers, you don't mean..."

"Yeah, this is where all the excess water and sewage goes through."

Zim let out a frightened squeak and began looking around for anything that might sweep him away.

Dib shushed him and looked to see if the others had heard. They were so far ahead that he could hardly see their lights. "What do you want?" He quickly whispered.

"Do I need to explain myself to you?"

"If you're worried about the escape pod, don't worry, it's hidden."

"I knows where it is. Do you really underestimate Zim so much that you didn't think he'd forget to put trackers in his ships?"

"I guess, but then why are you here?"

"I'm just checking up on you. Making sure your big head wasn't getting into anymore situations. I can see that I was right."

"Situations? I'm not in any situation. Me and some friends are looking for the Albino-Alligator People."

"Friends? Since when have you had friends?"

"Since today. Now go, I'm finally happy and I don't need stupid aliens."

Dib started crawling forward to catch up. He could hear Zim say something else, but he couldn't hear what. It was lost in the echo of the calls from his friends. It took Dib a while to catch up to them, even though they had stopped to wait for him. They had gotten far before they realized he wasn't there. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea having Dib in the back.

"Hey, dude, what happened."

"Nothing, I just got a little distracted looking for what Jane might have seen."

"Really, dude, you truly are an investigator, looking at every possible thing that might be true."

"Yeah, but that just lost us a few minutes of searching. We're just about at the uncharted zone now. Come on," Japlin said.

"You know, we were really worried about you," Tyler said, moving along with Japlin.

"Really?"

"Yeah! Dude, we thought you went down a wrong tunnel was going to be lost down here forever."

"You guys really were worried about me?"

"Yeah, totally dude."

"Come on!" Japlin called, "We can talk when we found the tribe of alligator people."

Dib was glad that Japlin made everyone keep moving. That way no one would notice the tears of joy that covered his face. He couldn't remember a time when someone cared enough to be worried about him. He wasn't even sure there was a time when someone was concerned about him, beyond being concerned that he might be insane. He wanted to stop crying, but he felt so happy that someone was actually concerned about his well being. They cared whether he lived or died.

The only being in the universe who ever showed him that kind of care was Zim, but it wasn't so much that Zim cared about his well being. Zim just wanted him dead. It was probably the only reason Dib still chased Zim. Well, that and because Zim was a horrible creature from space out to destroy the world and Dib was the only one who realized this besides his sister. But Dib was pretty sure Gaz would do the same thing if she wanted to, she would do the same thing as Zim.

They kept looking through the tunnels. They almost thought that they found the tribe of Albino-Alligator People, but it turned out to be a bum who liked building cardboard houses. They gave up when he started chasing them, throwing corn at their heads. X had managed to sketch out the new tunnels they had discovered before they left. They retraced their steps and climbed out of the sewers as close to the truck as possible.

"Man, my arms are sore from all that crawling," Tyler complained.

"Dude, I bet Josh here doesn't even feel a thing."

"Why? Because of his robot arms and legs?"

"Dude, I didn't think of that. I was going to say that his nerves are dead because of the car accident, but yeah, that would totally help."

"Oh, come on. You don't even know if he had nerve damage when it happened."

"Dude, It was bad enough that he lost all his limbs. Of course he can't feel pain anymore."

"Hey, Josh. Can you still feel pain?"

"Yeah."

"See, told ya." Tyler pushed Kyle over.

X walked up closer to Dib. Close enough that no one else could hear him say, "And this is why you stay out of their stupid little arguments."

"I see."

Japlin drove everyone home, starting with Tyler's house. It wasn't that far from where Dib had crashed down. Tyler's apartment was closer to the park than Japlin's place. It was a run down small building that was squished between another just as run down apartment building and a grubby looking corner store. Tyler and Dib got out of the car, and Jane did as well. She told Japlin that she wanted to make sure Dib was comfortable.

"Are you sure?" Japlin asked.

"It's fine. I'll call a cab later."

Japlin gave Jane a concerned look before nodding and driving off. They followed Tyler into the building, which smelled just as bad as Dib expected. It didn't smell as bad as all the times people shoved Dib's head into the toilet, or worse, when Gaz shoved his head into a port-a-potty at the fair, but it did smell like someone had let rats loose into the building, and then the cats were let loose into the building.

Tyler's door was at the every end of the hall, so they were able to get a whiff of every meal the neighbours were having. Two doors down it smelled like someone was having Indian food. Everything started to smell a lot better once they got into Tyler's apartment, which, while looking just as run down as the rest of the building, only messier, smelled like Tyler really liked wild berry air fashioner.

"So, Josh, your room will be the one on the right there," Tyler said pointing, "It's a little messy right now, but I'm sure there's still a mattress. Right behind you is the kitchen, there should still be some food in there, and this is the living room." He gestured to the entire space.

"Thanks," Dib said, smiling.

"No problem. Well, I'm gonna crash now. Sorry there isn't much more of a tour, but it's a roof over your head. I'll see you later."

"Goodnight, Tyler," Jane said.

Tyler nodded and said goodnight back, waving as he disappeared into his room. Dib sat down on the couch, and Jane sat down next to him, almost too close. They stayed quiet for a long while. Dib took in all the new sights, including the piles of paranormal magazines on top of a coffee table that didn't look like it had the strength to hold even one of them. It was nothing compared to the collection Dib had at home, but it was still very impressive.

"So," Jane said awkwardly, "Where did you come from?"

"Darton."

"Ooo!" Jane squealed, "Isn't that that city that Professor Membrane lives?"

"Yeah," Dib groaned, "He's my da... aad's boss."

"Really? Have you ever seen Professor Membrane in person? What's he like? I'm such a big fan of his." Jane bounced up and down on the couch.

"Yeah I've seen him, and he's a pompous, close minded, big headed loser who doesn't accept any theory that doesn't fit with anything he believes and if it doesn't then you're crazy and should be thrown in the crazy house for boys again and again," Dib said, almost shouting, "I've seen him take apart kittens for the fun of turning them into robots."

"Oh, well, I'm sure he's a nice guy deep down. Maybe you haven't spent enough time with him to really get to know him. After all, he has kept the world safe with all his inventions."

Dib nearly yelled out again, but he could see that there wasn't getting through to this girl. Membrane fans were as closed minded as his father was. So he settled for just groaning while muttering under his breath, "You're the one who hasn't spent any time with him."

"Well, maybe that's true. But I like to think that everyone deep down is a nice guy," Jane said, staring at her feet as she drew circles on the floor with them, "Even you."

"Yeah," Dib said, barely loud enough to be considered a word.

"Besides, it's not just all his inventions that make me like him so much. I kind of think that he's cute."

"Who? Membrane? He's old enough to be my father!"

"I know, but that dark hair that sticks out in a twisted scythe, those goggles that cover his eyes, the fact that you can barely see him. It just adds to the mystery."

"That's a stupid reason to like someone," Dib muttered, looking away from her. Membrane fan girls really bugged him.

"You know, you kind of look like Professor Membrane," Jane said, making Dib violently twist around to stare at her.

"What... what do you mean?"

"Well, you might not have the same hair style, or the glasses, or the fact that I can barely see more than your forehead, but something about you looks like Professor Membrane."

"Well, I'm not him. Or his son if that's what your thinking," Dib said, turning away from Jane again so she couldn't see more of him.

"I know. I'm just saying. I think it makes you look handsome." Jane put her hand on Dib's back.

Dib turned around and Jane kept her hand on him, moving it to his shoulder. "You think I'm handsome? No one's ever called me handsome. I was always the weirdo that girls giggled about having alien germs, even when we were out of elementary school."

"Well, I guess those girls were blind to how wonderful a person you are," Jane breathed heavily.

"What do you mean?"

"This." Jane planted a kiss on Dib's lips.


	10. Chapter 10

Dib pulled away. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm sorry, Josh. When I'm alone with a gorgeous guy, I kind of loose all self-control."

She wrapped her arms around Dib's neck and kissed him again. This time Dib has no where to back up. The under-padded arm of the couch dug into his back. He tried to push her away, but she was more determined than ever. With one huge shove he sent her flying to the other side of the couch.

"I'm sorry," she said, "I get a little carried away, I guess."

"A little?" Dib said, raising an eyebrow.

"I know. I'm so sorry. Would you like a cup of coffee?" She said, stiffly standing up and walking to the kitchen.

"Um... sure, I guess."

She boiled some water and dropped a few spoonfuls of instant coffee mix into some mugs she pulled out of the sink. She didn't say anything to Dib except to ask how he liked his coffee. She sat the mug in front of him and sat as far from him on the couch as possible. Holding her mug right in front of her face, trying to avoid looking at him.

Dib took a sip of his coffee. It was too bitter, and yet there was a taste as if she added too much sugar. Jane had stayed quiet except for slurping on her coffee. Dib felt kind of bad for her. She looked like she was feeling so sad that he pushed her away.

"Jane," Dib said, "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings."

"It's OK. I understand," She said, saying every sentence as quickly as she could.

"I'm just not used to people caring like that." Dib leaned back, crossing his arms tightly under his chest.

"You've never been kissed before?" Jane said, wide eyed.

"Not really. I'm the crazy kid. No one even wanted to get close to me."

"I want to get close to you," Jane said, inching closer to Dib. She didn't try to kiss him again, but she pressed herself close by his side.

"It's just that this whole day has been really overwhelming. One second I'm escaping an alien space ship, and the next I have more friends than I've ever had in my life and you're trying to kiss me. It feels as if my head is blowing up."

"I understand," Jane said, carefully wrapping an arm over Dib's shoulder.

"It's just so much so soon."

"I know. I'm sorry. I guess I should have realized you need time to adjust."

Dib nodded. "I'm glad you understand. I'm just not used to all of this, you know?"

Jane gave him a hug, nuzzling her head into his chest. "Yeah, I know."

She stayed cuddled up to him for a while. Dib slowly started to hug her back. He set an arm over her shoulders. He never realized how warm another human being was. He pulled her a little closer, and she happily squeezed him tighter. She felt so nice next to him.

One time, when he was younger, he filled up a hot water bottle and cuddled up with it to feel better when no one would even acknowledge him. He always thought that it was like what holding another human being would feel like. But feeling of Jane holding him was better than any hot water bottle.

"Josh," Jane said so softly it was almost a whisper, "It's getting a little late. I really need to go home soon."

"So, does that mean you're leaving now?" Dib asked.

"Do you want me to leave?"

"Not really."

"You're really nice to be with, Josh, you know that?"

"Not until now."

"It's so sad that people were mean to you. You're such a smart, nice, handsome, guy. It's their loss that they didn't take the time to see that."

She looked up. Her eyes bore into his head, it was almost like she could see all of his thoughts, and she wasn't scared of them. It was a comfort, but at the same time it terrified him. What if she started seeing something she didn't like? Would he have to count one of the first friends he's ever had in his life as one of the many people who hated him?

"Josh," She said, her eyes fluttering, "I know you're probably still overwhelmed with everything that has been happening and I know you're probably scared. But..." She leaned in closer, "I really do have trouble controlling myself around someone as wonderful as you." She was so close she was already kissing him already. "And I really want to kiss you."

As soon as she finished her sentence, Dib kissed her. She pushed herself into his lips and started kissing harder than he was. He thought that it was just going to be a gentle kiss, but she seemed too enthusiastic. He almost wanted to push away from her. But he had already pushed her away once, and he didn't want to make her feel bad. He didn't want to ruin anything.

Jane pulled away for a quick breath, "How are you feeling?"

"Umm... OK, I guess."

"Good," She said, kissing him again.

Whenever Dib wasn't preoccupied with following Zim, he would wonder what these sorts of things really felt like. Kissing was a little different than he imagined it would. It wasn't completely unpleasant but it was wet and weird feeling. There was the slight taste of extra sweet coffee on her tongue as she snuck it into his mouth, which made the kiss feel even weirder.

After she pulled away for another breath, Dib took the opportunity to wipe all the spit off his mouth and get up. He grabbed the coffee mugs to put them back into the kitchen. He just wanted a little break before kissing again. It wasn't that he hated it, but he didn't need to be kissing all the time and the coffee would stain the cups of they weren't washed out.

Just outside the kitchen, there was a small breakfast table with four chairs crammed under it. The table sat under a dirty window. As Dib walked past it, he saw something green move past it and duck out of sight. He sat the cups down on the table and tried to see what it was, but the green blur was already gone. Dib wondered why Zim was following him so much.

Dib left the cups on the table and walked back to Jane. In the corner of his eye he could see that Zim was in the window again. It was sort of weird having Zim follow him around like this. It was usually Dib who did all the sneaky watching, but at least back then Dib had a reason for it. Why was Zim so interested in following him?

Jane watched Dib the entire time. An eyebrow was raised a little higher than needed as Dib sat back down.

"Is everything alright?" Jane asked.

"Oh, yeah." Dib said slowly.

"You know, Josh, if there is something that's bothering you, we don't have to keep going."

"I'm fine."

Jane leaned in to kiss him again, then she pulled back. "As much as I want to go on, I don't want to ruin things again."

"I'm fine," Dib repeated.

"No, I think I should go."

She got up to leave, but Dib grabbed her wrist and pulled her down and started kissing her. She kept trying to stand up, but Dib just stood up with her. She wrapped her arms around him and deepened the kiss. Dib hoped that this would show her that everything was fine.

His eyes opened a little and he could see Zim at the window again. Even against the dirt clouded window, Dib could see that Zim was pressing his face against the window while his fingers dig against the glass, making the faintest trails from the dirt on the outside being scraped off. It felt so weird being watched like that. How is it that so much has changed in a day?

Not only is he free of his father, but he's finally getting back to his original paranormal investigating rather than being the hero of Earth. He actually has friends who like him for him, despite the fact that they've only been with him for a day and think his name is Josh, but he can tell that all the things he loved, they love as well. And not only does he have friends, he has a girl who is kissing him. And now that his Zim hunting days are over, it seems that Zim has started following him. It's like he had fallen into an alternate universe where down is up, and everyone wants to be with Dib.

Trying to go over all the things that have suddenly changed in his life was making Dib dizzy. He pulled away from Jane to catch his breath and make sure his head wasn't spinning around on his shoulders like he was in some sort of cartoon or the Exorcist.

"I'm sorry, maybe I'm still a little overwhelmed," Dib said, rubbing his eyes. Not because they were sore, but it made him feel better.

"Don't worry about it. We have as long you want to get this sorted out." She patted his shoulder.

"Thank you, for, you know, actually liking me."

"It's no problem. You're a very likable person."

"Yeah," Dib said slowly, still not quite believing that someone would actually say something like that to him.

Jane leaned over to look out the window. Dib followed her gaze, thinking that she might have seen Zim, but the window was empty, just the dark night.

"Do you mind walking me to the bus stop? There are a lot of crazies at this time of night."

"Bus? Didn't you tell Japlin you were taking a taxi?"

"Yeah, well, I just realized I didn't have money for a taxi, so I'm taking the bus."

"OK, I guess."

Jane found the keys to the apartment for Dib, and led the way to the bus stop. She managed to keep to herself as they waited for the bus to come. It took a long time. So long that Dib started to think that the buses weren't running anymore, but eventually the bus rolled up to the stop. The buses looked a little different than the ones back home. Back home they had been replaced with super sleek and fast buses his father made. But these were still the boxy shaped buses he remembered as a kid.

"Thank you for coming," Jane said as she got on the bus. She leaned over and gave Dib a kiss on the cheek. Even though he had been kissing her for a bit earlier, this kiss was just so sudden, it made him blush. "I'll see you tomorrow."

The bus doors closed and the bus drove away. Dib stood there until the bus was out of sight, and then his legs gave out from under him and he collapsed on the bench. It was so quiet as he sat there. There wasn't a sound except for the rantings of a hobo that danced down street with a coat rack. Dib sighed and leaned back. A smile couldn't be kept off his face. He almost felt like giggling that he had kissed someone.

When the hobo started screaming at a tuna can, and throwing off his glasses to battle it, Dib decided it was time to leave. He looked up at the sky. He sort of hoped he would be able to see some stars, but all he could see were clouds. It looked like it was going to rain tonight. Dib always loved the smell of rain, mostly because he knew it meant that Zim was trapped under whatever shelter he could find.

Dib laughed as he remembered all the times he and Zim had been in the rain. The first time Zim had seen rain, which prompted Dib to create a water balloon sling shot. It would have worked too, if Zim hadn't fought back with a water balloon half the size of the county. Or that time a few years later when he caught Zim under a tree when it started raining. Zim couldn't get away and resorted to using the lasers in his pak. Dib felt a little bad he didn't see it coming, but the lasers took out the tree and Zim ended up running away screaming. That was a great victory.

Dib chuckled a bit at the memories. But he also remembered how draining it was to chase Zim and how lonely it was that there was no one else to fight with. He was glad that all of that was over and that things have finally turned around in his favor. It was about time too. Dib felt like laughing as he realized that this was just the beginning of a better and easier life.


	11. Chapter 11

There was a big smile on Dib's face as he retraced his steps back to Tyler's place. He started noticing the smell of rain. It felt like all the stress and sadness and frustration he felt back home was being washed away, and flowed out of his body with every breath he took.

Even if most of the night was spent crawling around sewers with no sign of the Alligator people, it didn't feel like a total bust. If every day was going to be like this, then he never wanted to leave this city and the group of people who had taken him in.

As he turned the corner, double checking to make sure he knew how to get back into the building, Zim stood in the middle of the side walk. He was starting at Dib even though he could barely hold his head up. He just stood there, shoulders slumped forward and arms hanging limp by his sides.

"Are you enjoying your new life?" Zim asked. His voice cracked with every vowel like he was about to cry. But Zim doesn't cry. Dib was sure Irkens can't cry.

"Uh... yeah. Why are you still here?"

"I'm... just... doing alien things," Zim said.

Zim was trying to to stare at Dib, but every so often Zim would look at him for a second before tearing his eyes away. He looked like he was about to cry as much as he sounded like it. Dib stood for a while, waiting for Zim to say or do anything else, but he just stood there.

"Oh, OK. Well, do what you want. I'm not going to try to stop you anymore. I'm not going to chase you anymore. I'm through fighting aliens. I think I've finally found what I'm looking for."

"That's... great Dib." Zim's voice went squeakier than normal. He sounded like he could barely breath.

"It is," Dib said smiling.

Zim didn't seem to be doing anything but standing there. Dib could hear that bum in the background and he was starting to get tired so he decided to just keep on walking. Zim didn't even twitch a finger as Dib started to walk past. Just as Dib was behind Zim, Zim spoke up again.

"What does it take?"

Dib turned around. "What?"

Zim twisted around to stare Dib in the eyes. Zim looked like he was crying. There were tears in his eyes, which Dib thought was stupid sounding. After all, Irken's can't cry. Zim curls up in pain every time a drop of water, unless he wasn't crying water. But as far as Dib knew, humans were the only creatures that cried.

"What does it take to make you realize how I feel?" The tears ran down Zim's face as he said it.

"What do you mean?"

"I always knew you humans were stupid!" Zim yelled, but the anger dropped out of his body as soon as it came. "But I thought you were one of the smart ones."

"What are you trying to say?"

"What does it take! Do I have to participate in your stupid human mating rituals? Do I have to go to the movies? Buy you flowers and chocolates? Do I have to say the luv words?"

"Flowers and chocolates? Zim... what are you talking about? I think you're getting things confused."

"Zim knows exactly what he's talking about and you should be glad that I want one of you pig-smellies to be life-mates Zim!"

Dib's knees buckled then suddenly gave away underneath him. "Life-mates? You want to marry me?"

"Marry is your human ritual," Zim leaned down and kissed Dib, "Irken customs are much better."

Dib tried to say something, but he was so stunned that he could barely breath. Zim stood until Dib caught his breath again. Dib wanted to run away and pretend he didn't hear any of that. He knew he joked about being in another universe just a few minutes ago, but didn't think that it was true. But when he heard Zim confess love, that joke seemed more and more true. Maybe the entire world has fallen in love with him.

"What's going on!" Dib yelled, burying his head under his arms.

"I know my love is scary, Dib, but I know you're the human brave enough to stand it."

"When did this happen?"

"Um... not to long ago. Not long after you stopped chasing Zim for your real science."

"What?"

"At first I thought it was because Zim was so awesome, he couldn't be awesome unless he had an audience to see how awesome he was. It wasn't until you stole my pak and got all your icky human thoughts in it that the computer was able to translate things differently?"

"So... you love me because I left a human trace in your pak?"

"Yes. You left bits of you inside of me!" Zim said, "And now you're a part of my thoughts."

"So... that's why you're stalking me? Because I've been stalking you?"

"Oh, I guess so. I was just watching you because I was waiting for you to realize. But I guess I've been giving you too much credit. After all, how can I expect any creature to be as great as me!"

Just as Zim said that, it started raining. Zim screamed in agony and started running around in circles. After watching Zim for a while, Dib managed to calm down enough to take off his jacket and put it on Zim. Zim collapses onto the ground, gasping for air under Dib's jacket.

"You smell nice," Zim said.

Dib pulled the jacket off of Zim, not wanting to be smelled by the being he had devoted his life to hating. Zim screamed again rolling on the ground in an attempt to get away from the rain. Dib drops his jacket back on Zim and sighed as the rain started to drench him as well. Zim snuggled into the jacket, enjoying the protection of the coat. It almost looked sad seeing him like that.

"You know, I don't want you stealing my jacket. So I guess you might as well come back with me."

As soon as Dib said that, Zim jumped to his feet and ran into the building. Dib slowly followed and led Zim to the apartment. Dib sighed, he had just moved in and already he was bring people in. Although, he was pretty sure Zim didn't really count as people, he hoped Tyler wasn't going to be upset about it.

Zim sat down on the couch, taking up nearly all of it despite the fact that he was still the size of a ten year old. Dib squeezed into what was left of the couch. This was starting to feel awkward. It as one thing to have a girl suddenly profess her love for you. It was almost normal. A little creepy considering she only met him a little while ago, but at least she was the opposite gender and the same species. Zim was neither of those things. Dib wondered what he should do now.

"So, you're in love with me?" Dib asked. He still couldn't quite wrap his mind around it.

"Are you deaf, Dib-head?" Zim said.

"But we're enemies and..."

"Silence!" Zim yelled and kissed Dib, "Be happy Zim chosen you out of all creatures in the universe as his love-monkey."

Zim kissed him again. There was something different about how Zim kissed him. Maybe it had something to do with alien saliva or something, but there was a sort of buzz with it. It was the same feeling he got whenever they fought hand to hand. Back then he thought it was the thrill of the fight he was loving, but then what was it now?

As they kissed, it almost felt like they were fighting again. Each one fighting for the top position as their lips were locked together. Dib almost felt dizzy with the way his heart was beating. If it kept going this fast, Dib was worried he was going to pass out. He gasped for breath every few seconds, unable to breath quickly enough through his nose.

After a few minutes Zim pulled away with a smile on his face. "So, Dib, have I proved my mastery over the human lip lock better than that disgusting wormy pig-girl you had over?"

"Are you jealous?" Dib asked.

"Of course not. If anything it's everyone else who should be jelly of me. Zim envies no one." Zim paused for a second. "Still, I'd rather you not perform anymore of that lip ritual with that girl ever again."

"You know Zim, just because you say you're in love with me and kissed me doesn't mean we're going out."

"Of course it does! After all, you kissed Zim back, and by your human rules, that means you return the feelings and want to 'go out.'"

"Not always," Dib said.

Zim crossed his arms in a childlike huff. His eyes then lit up for a few seconds and he reached behind him. Dib could hear the whirl of the mechanics of Zim's pak as a mechanical spider-leg came out and handed Zim a couple items. Dib stared at the things in Zim's hand, most of them were unrecognizable.

"What's this?" Dib asked.

"Isn't this what you human couples do? Give gifts just because?"

"Yeah, but I don't think we're really a..." Dib lost his train of thought when Zim put a familiar pair of glasses into Dib's hands. "Weren't these wreaked?"

"I fixed them up for you. It was no difficulty with your inferior human glass technology. If you want to wear them, out of your human nostalgia, the eyes I gave you will adjust to them. And here," Zim put another item into Dib's hands. It looked like the alien cell phone that Dib stole from Zim's house once. "This is so we can keep in touch. I know you left one of these back home, but this one is absolutely untraceable."

Zim put the rest of the stuff on the coffee table for Dib to look at later. He then sat still, waiting for Dib to say something. Dib didn't know what to say. A part of him still wanted them to stay enemies, it was the only part of his life before that made going on bearable. But the rest of him was caught between the kiss, and the gifts, which seemed genuinely sincere. Zim's never been like this before. Or has he?

Dib kept trying to think back to try and find proof that Zim was lying, but as he thought back to the more recent plans Zim has had, they hardly seemed evil. They didn't have the same punch they did when he was a kid. Dib thought that it was because Zim was getting as tired as Dib was, or that Dib was getting stronger and able to push Zim back better. Or maybe Zim wasn't trying as hard because he liked Dib foiling his plans.

"These are great Zim," Dib said. He was still torn between paranoia and confusion. He knew he didn't quite sound as excited as someone who really meant it would sound, and he hoped Zim didn't notice the hesitation.

Not because he was worried about hurting Zim's feelings, or that he cares how Zim feels. He just didn't want to show the weakness. Dib kept trying to convince himself of that, but Zim's smile when Dib spoke shook his already unbalanced resolve further askew.

"Of course they are," Zim said, with a smile Dib hasn't seen on Zim for a long time. Not since longer than Dib could remember. "Zim made them, so of course they are great."

"Yeah," Dib said slowly.

Was this really what was happening? There was no way that Zim would love anyone. He was an alien sent to destroy the human race, why would he fall in love with a member of the species he was sent to destroy? Trying to figure it all out was giving Dib a head ache. He rubbed his forehead to try and sooth the pain all this confusion was giving him.

"You look tired. You humans need a lot of sleep. Where's your sleeping area?"

"It's not ready yet."

"Then you shall rest here while I prepare the space for you to sleep. Where was it going to be stored?"

Dib pointed to the door that was going to be his room and Zim marched over to it. Dib laid down on the couch. He did feel a little tired. Maybe if he slept all of this will sort itself out. If not, at least he'll have a clearer head to think it through.

Dib closed his eyes and as he drifted off, his thoughts went to all the kissing he's done. He had never kissed anyone in his life before, but today two people confessed love and kissed him. He thought about the first thing Zim said after the kiss, about it being better than Jane's. Dib didn't know exactly what made a kiss good or bad, but he had to admit, kissing Zim was much more exciting than kissing Jane.


	12. Chapter 12

_Author's note: Here's what most of you have been waiting for... sort of. There's a small sex scene so if you don't want to read it, skip on._

_Sorry, I've been having a bit of trouble with this chapter._

* * *

><p>"Wake up!" Zim shook Dib out of his sleep.<p>

The only thing Dib could respond with was a confused groan. Dib forced his eyes open and could see Zim hovering over him, out of disguise. Dib stared into Zim's round, red eyes. They seemed to catch the little bits of light that had entered the room, giving them a sparkle. Zim stood with his face so close to Dib that Dib could see how smooth Zim's skin was.

"I've finished making your sleeping area ready," Zim announced.

"Wha... really?" Dib said, still half sleep dazed.

"Come and see the works of Zim's love." Zim grabbed Dib's arm and pulled him off the couch and towards the room.

Dib could see that it was the only room with the lights on, and as he stepped into the room, his breath was taken away. There was still a lot of junk in the room, but it was used to roughly recreate his old room. Zim had used anything he could find to make it look a little like his old room, poster positions included.

Piles of old magazines held up the mattress

"Wow, Zim, you did all of this?" Dib stared at the room. He wondered how long he had been asleep on that couch, it didn't seem like this was something that could have been done in a night.

"Of course. I had to throw a lot of the garbage in here to the hobos, but I managed to make due with what little I had to work with."

"Impressive Zim. But, why are you doing all of this now?"

"I love you Dib, and this is the only way you seem to notice my affections. I've tried every mating ritual known to the Irken empire, but none of it worked."

"Why didn't you start with this to begin with?" Dib asked.

Zim made a few faces, then he shrugged, "I like playing hard to get."

Dib rolled his eyes and chuckled a bit. Zim obviously had no clue what he was doing. But still, it seems like he was getting the hang of it. He's never seen Zim try so hard on anything that didn't involve world conquest before.

As Dib stared at his room, Zim wrapped his arms around Dib's stomach, quickly saying, "I love you."

"I love you too," Dib said before he even realized he was thinking the words.

Zim then used his spider legs to reach eye level with Dib and pressed his lips onto Dib. Dib fell backwards onto the bed in surprise as Zim started kissing him. Zim made soft little noises as he rolled his tongue in Dib's mouth. Dib relaxed and returned the kiss just as strongly as he ran his hand over Zim's smooth, hairless head.

Dib could feel where Zim's antenna were and he slowly stroked them. Zim shivered as Dib rubbed them. And almost stopped moving to let Dib caress them. Dib rubbed them a few more times before letting his fingers trail down Zim's jaw.

Zim grabbed Dib's wrist and pulled it towards his mouth. Zim kissed Dib's fingers for a few seconds, and then placed them in his mouth. Dib's eyes widened as he felt Zim's long, smooth tongue wrap around his fingers and slither around them.

Zim then took Dib's fingers out of his mouth and set them back on the top of his head for Dib to rub his antenna again. Dib slowly moved his fingers in small circles around the base of Zim's antenna. Zim gave out a small moan as Dib gently squeezed and moved his fingers up towards the small joint in the middle of them.

"Does that feel good?" Dib asked.

"R...really good," Zim sighed as he leaned into Dib.

Dib could feel himself get aroused by the way Zim seemed to act as Dib rubbed the antenna. Zim shifted his head to make them closer to Dib. Even though the pressure made Dib a little uncomfortable, he felt relaxed sitting next to Zim this way. He knew if this was what being in love with Zim was like, then he wished he realized it much longer ago. It would probably have made his life much more bearable.

Dib kept rubbing them until Zim started walking his hands down Dib's body towards his pants. Dib started to tense up as Zim moved towards that very sensitive area. Zim lifted his other hand to gently rub Dib's arm in an attempt to calm him down as he reached for the zipper.

Dib jumped away a bit, letting go of Zim. "No, Zim, I don't think I'm ready for that."

Zim moved closer to Dib, setting his hand on Dib's stomach. "Didn't you say you loved Zim?" He stared up at Dib with big puppy dog eyes.

"Well... I guess, but it sort of slipped out. You were saying it and all," Dib rambled, "Besides, why ruin the night with something like that. I just don't think I'm ready."

"Oh," Zim said, sounding sad. He hung his head and waited for a few seconds. Then he stared Dib straight in the eyes. "Are you ready now?"

"I don't know, I mean, this is my first time doing anything like this, with anyone."

"Scared Dib?" Zim teased.

"No!" Dib nearly yelled, "I just don't think we should do this now."

"You keep saying that Dib," Zim said with a devilish smile, "But you're the one who's afraid to let my hand get any closer." Zim's hand slowly drifted back down.

"Zim, don't." Dib pushed Zim's hand away.

"Dib," Zim sighed crawling up Dib's body to kiss him, "Isn't this something you had always wanted? You have your alien."

"No, this isn't something that I've always wanted. I mean, yes, I've always wanted you but not..." Dib buried his face in his hands as he tried to calm himself down enough to think clearly.

Zim crawled back down towards Dib's pants and undid the button and pulled down the zipper. Dib could feel his penis push against his underwear, reaching for the still wasn't too sure about this, but Zim's fingers reaching for that sensitive spot felt too good to complain. Zim wrapped his hand around Dib's cock. The touch of Zim's gloved hand was so different from what Dib was used to feeling, but that just made it all the more exciting.

"I've been monitoring your human information systems for a while," Zim said as he started to move his hand up and down, "And your internets seem to have a lot of information on your mating practices, including many video demonstrations." Zim gave Dib a sly smile, "So I've figured out exactly what you humans like."

"Z...Zim..." Dib tried to say, but his objections were cut short when he could feel Zim's tongue start to slide down his penis.

"Zim, stop," Dib managed to say, unfortunately with less conviction than he wished to sound.

Zim looked up at Dib. "Is there something wrong?"

"I just think that this is too much too soon. I mean, it wasn't even a week ago that things were normal. And now everything has changed. I'm now part robot, my father wants to torture me and now I probably have a wanted dead or alive poster with my face on it, I'm suddenly miles away from home, I've actually found friends and a girl who likes me, and now the alien I thought was my enemy just professed love to me." Dib curled up his legs, "Everything is the opposite to how it was. I'm not saying I want to go back to my boring old life, because, despite my father, I like these changes, but I just want some time to adjust to all of this. Do you understand?"

"No."

"I just sort of feel like a fish out of water."

"But your not a fish. How do fishes have to do with anything?"

Dib sighed into his hands, "I think I just need to sleep."

"OK," Zim said, "Sleep well."

"Yeah," Dib said, halfway sarcastic.

He rolled under the blankets and closed his eyes. He could feel Zim moving around on the bed as he tried to get comfortable. Dib kept his eyes closed. He couldn't believe that he was that close to actually having sex, and yet he chickened out. His heart was beating faster than ever.

Zim must have laid down, because Dib could feel Zim's pak digging into his back. He's never really been this close to Zim without it being a fight to the death situation. He listened and he could hear Zim's breathing, and the soft sounds of Zim's pak. He never really knew the pak made sounds, but it's never been quiet enough for Dib to really hear it.

"Zim," Dib said through what felt like a well of silence.

"Yes, Dib?"

"What is it about me that you like?"

"Why do you need to know?"

"I'm curious. The investigator in me wants to know about everything about any oddities, and this is definitely one of the oddest things I've ever experienced, which is really saying a lot."

Zim paused to think. "I don't really know. Irkens aren't even supposed to love, but I guess that proves how great Zim is."

"They aren't?" Dib asked, rolling over to really see Zim.

"Nope. We're bred for fighting and taking over the universe, not for love. Love just gets in the way, or so I heard."

Dib sat up a bit, he could see that Zim was still facing away from him. "But, then why did you just say that you love me? And all those things you did, why?"

"I don't know. I guess Zim is just that awesome." Zim curled up a bit. Not looking back at Dib.

"Does it feel bad?" Dib asked.

Zim peaked back towards Dib. "Does what feel bad?"

"To be so different from your own species."

"Zim can handle it," He said, completely facing away from Dib.

"Don't you get lonely?"

"Irkens need no one."

"Oh," Dib said with a hint of disappointment, "Then what about me?"

Zim twists around so he could stare Dib in the eyes. "What are you talking about?"

"Do you need me? Is that why you said that you loved me? Or did you just say that as some Irken game?"

"I do love you Dib. When I realized that I loved you, I also realized that I'm better than any Irken in the empire. And being the best Irken in the empire, I needed someone who is the best of their species, and you're the best I found, Dib." Zim put a hand on Dib's head. "Now go back to sleep."

Dib sank back down into the mattress. It sort of answered his question. Dib knew that under all of Zim's ego and self inflation, that there was a bit of sincerity in there. Although, Dib did wonder what the rest of the Irkens were like. The only ones he's really met were Tak and Zim, and they were both so different. He's met Scoodge a few times, but even that didn't give him much of an idea of what Irkens were really like, beyond that they like taking over planets.

Dib wondered if Zim was going to do anything like sleep, or if he was just going to get bored and leave sometime tonight. Dib could feel him self fall asleep. He didn't realize how tired he actually was, which was no surprise considering the day he's just had. His eyes felt so heavy that even closing them didn't feel like enough.

He sighed and finally let himself fall asleep. He still wasn't completely sure if this was really happening. It just seemed too farfetched for his liking, but he's seen some strange things before, and all of them were real. No one else ever believed him even when he had evidence, but tonight, there's all the evidence he could ever want, and this time it's Dib who doesn't believe it.


	13. Chapter 13

"Hey, Josh!"

Dib woke up slowly. He half expected to still see Zim laying beside him, but the only ones in the room were Tyler and himself. Dib blinked the drowsiness away and started looking for Zim, but it didn't seem as if he was still here. Maybe Zim was just in the kitchen or watching TV or something. Or maybe he didn't want to stay here and wait for Dib to wake up.

"...Oh wow, I can't believe you did this in a night. You're pretty awesome. Anyways, come see what's on the news. You would not believe it!" Tyler said.

"What?" Dib asked.

"Come and see," He said, jogging out of the room.

Dib watched Tyler leave with a great deal of curiosity. What could be so amazing that it couldn't wait to be explained? Dib crawled out of bed and walked out of the room. He quickly realized his pants were still undone from the night before and he quickly zipped them back up. Tyler was sitting on the couch, leaning forward as he watched the news report.

"Come, sit down," Tyler said when he noticed Dib slowly walking up, "This is on nearly every station."

Dib sat down next to Tyler and took a look at what was so interesting. So far it was just a reporter, standing in front of the camera. She was saying things about it being the discovery of the century. The camera then panned to show a small group of albino-alligator people, tied up next to a building. The camera then panned up to show the writing on the wall.

The wall read, "Dear Dib. I found what you were looking for. They weren't that hard to find. I'll be waiting by the pod. Love, Zim." The camera then went back down to the alligator people. Then it suddenly jumped to the reporter.

"We're just getting word that Professor Membrane has some thoughts on this interesting discover. Professor?" She said.

The shot cut to his father standing in the middle of a lab. "These so called albino-alligator people are completely fake. If you look closely enough, you can see it's all just a hoax."

It went back to the reporter for a second so that she could say, "A hoax for what?" Then went back to Membrane.

"Someone must suspect that my son has gone to New York and placed this to lure him out. If you haven't already heard, I'm offering a one million dollar reward for anyone who can bring back my son. He's completely insane and has run away. Here's a picture of him." Professor Membrane them held up one of Dib's old school photos. Dib wondered where he got it. He didn't even remember taking school photos. But at least it was so old that there was no way anyone would recognize him.

"Woh, a million dollars just for some spoiled runaway. Hey, Josh, do you really think he's in the city?"

"Um... shouldn't we be focusing on the fact someone found the fact someone found the alligator people before we did."

"Oh, you're right."

Just then the phone rang. Tyler picked it up and on the other end Dib could hear Kyle say, "Dude, did you hear about the million bucks?"

"Yeah, I wonder why this Membrane guy wants his son back so badly."

"Maybe he just doesn't care about his son and is more worried about how it looks to have a child run away, and in reality, once he gets his son back, Membrane will probably torture his son into believing what Membrane wants him to believe," Dib said bitterly.

Tyler looked at Dib. "Wow, that's kind of dark. Do you have daddy issues or something?"

"Zim?" Kyle said loudly on the phone, "Hey, dude, Tyler, doesn't the writing on the wall say Zim? Isn't that the alien dude Josh was talking about."

"Hey, yeah. You know, this totally calls for a group meeting. Kyle, you call everyone else. Me and Josh will meet you at the usual spot." He the then hung up the phone. "Pretty weird, huh, Josh?" He asked, with a slight emphasis on the name.

"Uh, yeah," Dib said nervously.

"It's kind of interesting that the alien you were calling your enemy is suddenly here? Isn't it?" Tyler said, leaning in towards Dib.

"It sure is," Dib said in the dumbest sounding voice he could, hoping that Tyler would just let it drop.

"Not only that, buy your worst enemy sent a note to this Dib person, and not you. What do you have to say about that?"

"Well, maybe he needs the money to look normal. After all, there is a big bounty on that Dib's head," Dib said, nervously.

"If you have any information on this huge headed child and want the just as big reward, then call at 555-2233," The reporter on the television said, "Back to you Low."

"Hey, my head isn't that big," Dib blurted out. He was already kicking himself for letting that slip out.

"So, it's true. I knew it. Don't think you can just pull one over on us, we've been dealing with this stuff for years. Now come on, there's something we need to discuss with the group," Tyler said, grabbing Dib's shirt and pulling him along with him.

"You're not going to turn me in, are you?" Dib asked.

"We'll see."

Tyler dragged Dib down the street. People gave them weird looks as they passed by, but for the most part they went straight to the Soggy Donut. Tyler sat Dib down in one of the booths and they waited for the rest of them. It didn't take long for everyone to get there. Jane was the last one to sit down. She gave Dib a shy little smile when she got to the table.

"So why did you call this?" Japlin asked, "After all, who cares if someone found some alligator people. There are probably more, and besides, that's only one of the things we're looking for."

"Because our friend, Josh, lied about who he is," Tyler said.

"So?" Kyle asked, "I mean, dude, X hasn't even told us his name. It's not like most of us have the luxury of telling everyone our identities."

"Kyle's right," Jane said, "Why does it matter Josh won't tell us his name?"

"It wouldn't, if Josh wasn't really Dib Membrane, the kid with a million dollar bounty on his head. Do we really want anyone from that area of the government poking around here?"

Jane stared at Dib, "Josh, is that true?"

"Depends..." Dib said, his voice trailing off.

"We're not going to turn you in for the money," Japlin said.

"We're not?" Kyle whined, "Dude."

Japlin glared at Kyle, before turning back to Dib. "We're not going to turn you in. I'm sure whatever your reason for running away, it's a good one. But we can't let you stay. I'm sorry but we already have enough problems without drawing attention to ourselves. A million dollars is a lot of attention."

"But where am I going to go?" Dib asked.

"Anywhere but here," X said, "You'll be endangering more than just yourself by staying here."

"What are you talking about?" Dib asked, "You're just paranormal investigators. What harm can be being here possibly pose? I changed my look when I got here, and besides, my father used a way out of date picture. I was twelve when that picture was taken."

"Dude, even I can tell that it's you, and I'm stoned out of my mind."

"I'm sorry, Dib, but I have to protect the group first." Japlin hung her head.

Dib looked around the table, and everyone avoided his gaze. Even Jane. She seemed to have gone the most quiet. He sighed and left without saying another word. He wanted to go back to the apartment to get the things he left in there. The stuff that Zim had given him, but he didn't have the key, so he went in the direction he was sure Japlin's house was. Zim's note said he would be there, and Dib had a few words to give to him.

The streets were filled with people rushing around. Most of them didn't even give him the time to take a curious look, and the ones who did, didn't give him a second. A couple people asked him if he was the kid they saw on the news who had a million dollar reward on his head, but they believed him when he said no.

There were a lot of weird people walking around, and it was hardly even morning. There was a sort of nostalgia walking through the streets unnoticed. It reminded him of his past life. It was a little hard to believe that it was only a couple days since he was last at school. He wondered what he had missed at that party Natalia pretended to invite him to. Or if there were any other parties the other kids were having. It wasn't as if he cared about the parties. Most of the people in his school where stupid, barbaric neanderthals, but it was sort of like having an out of body experience to know that he won't ever see them again.

A person pushed by him who looked really familiar. Dib couldn't quite place it, but he swore he's seen that person before. The person looked back at Dib, and did a double take before catching up with Dib. Dib tried to ignore him, but they guy kept persisting.

"Hey, aren't you that kid everyone is looking for?"

"Nope. I just look like him. You won't believe how many times people have asked me that."

"Sorry, it's just you look very familiar."

"One of those faces, I guess. Excuse me, there's someone I have to meet up with."

"OK, have a nice day, sir."

"You too."

Dib let out a sigh of relief when the man was out of ear shot. He suddenly realized where he had seen that face before. It was one of his father's butt kissers, the people who got to follow him around and smile as Membrane explained any of his inventions. It was hard to recognize him without the fake lab coat on. If one of his dad's butt kissers were here, then his father isn't far away.

Dib picked up the pace, almost running to Japlin's. He hoped that Zim was actually waiting next to the escape pod that Dib crashed and not a pod that Zim, himself, took. He also hoped he could remember where to go. Dib had an impressive memory, but he wasn't watching most of the trip there. He was too happy that some people actually wanted to be his friends.

Dib was out of breath by the time he found his way to Japlin's garage. he had ran into a few more of his father's cronies on the way, but luckily his father had almost as big an ego as Zim and only picked people who were dumb to hang around him. Dib didn't want his father's job, but if his father died and Dib got control of Membrane industries, then he would use it to investigate all the mysteries of the world, and make sure the people who worked for him were smart enough to think for themselves.

Dib walked up to the garage. It looked so much different in the morning light. It was actually a little dirtier than when he first saw it, but he recognized it imidiatly. Dib walked up and hit the small button that opened the garage. Dib stood back and waited for it to open. He could see all the clutter that had been shoved into it, including a small green person standing next to a space ship escape pod.


	14. Chapter 14

"Hi, Dib." Zim waved

"Zim! How could you have done something so stupid?" Dib said, nearly yelling.

"Come on, there's still a little bit of fuel left in the tank. We might even be able to leave the atmosphere."

Dib nearly pulled his hair out. "Oh my god, Zim, when did you become so stupid. You can't use my real name on a big display like that. Do you know how many people worship my father? Did you know all of them are out there looking for me? Not to mention anyone who's greedy enough to want a million dollars. I can't even stay in this city anymore!"

"It's smelly here anyway."

"Don't you get it, I liked it here. There was everything I wanted, friends, good investigating grounds, I had a place to myself, and everything was starting to finally turn nice. Now thanks to you, I have nothing."

"You're always saying that, but if you really had nothing you would have stopped doing anything long ago. Now help me get this out of the garage so we can take off. I have a base that will work perfectly."

Dib sighed giving up for a second and picked up the other side of the escape pod. It was much heavier than he remembered it being, but then, the last time he had to pick it up, he had a group of friends to carried it out of the garage, struggling not to trip over any of the junk that's laying around.

"You know Dib, I thought you obsessively collected things, but these guys don't seem to throw anything away."

"I guess. But they're looking for everything. I was only trying to gather evidence about you."

"Why can't everyone have your focus."

"No one else thought they were stopping the world from being destroyed." Dib set the escape pod down on the drive way. The metal scraped against the pavement as it slid down the slope for a few inches. "OK, here's your escape pod. Enjoy." Dib started walking down the street.

"Dib! Wait," Zim yelled, running to catch up with him.

"Don't yell my name out like that," Dib said in a controlled voice, "You realize how greedy people are for a million dollars?"

"Oh, right," Zim said sadly.

"I think I'm gonna head up to Canada. There's plenty of places for me to hide there. Maybe I'll go back to hunting for Bigfoot, like in the good old days."

"Dib, wait!" Zim shouted again.

Dib stared back at Zim, trying to burn a hole through his head with his eyes, or maybe develop some sort power that would allow him to explode Zim's head with his mind.

"What."

"Why don't you come with me? We can hide much further than Canada. Come on, you know I can hide from those humans. You're the only human in the entire world who was even able to suspect that I wasn't from Earth."

"How do I know you're not going to screw things up for me again? It's not the first time you've done something that made things impossible for me to have a normal life."

"Then give me a chance to try. I want to make up for everything. I don't know how, but I know I've got to try something."

"How about you let me live my own life. It was going good until you shown up, and that was only in a day. Imagine how good a life I can make for myself if you weren't in the way."

"I didn't do anything. Even before I can around you were always weird and pushed people away."

"Well, maybe I've grown up since then and you're the one holding me back. Just... leave me alone."

Dib continued walking down the street. Just as he was at the end. He could hear Zim running to catch up with him.

"How far do you think you're gonna get without my help? I have all the resources and alien technology, you just have the human clothes on your back."

"Well, I'll find stuff."

"And you're face is all over the news. Eventually someone would recognize you. Maybe those so called friends of yours, who threw you out the second there was the slightest smells of trouble will give the mob a more up to date version of your face. How are you going to get away when everyone knows your face?"

"I'll find a way," Dib said, with much less conviction than before.

"You know Zim's right. Come on. I promise no more gifts. Just... come with me," Zim held out his hand.

Dib stared Zim's hand. As soon as Zim promised no gifts, Dib realized what all of this was about. It was almost funny if it didn't completely ruin his life here. But Zim was right about Dib's chances of escape, and about how Zim has been able to allude authorities for years, including Professor Membrane who on multiple occasions been face to face with Zim and never realized Zim wasn't human.

Dib took Zim's hand and followed Zim back to the pod. This shouldn't be too bad. After all, Zim has changed. And if Zim's taking him to his base, then there would be little chance his father would look there. He's probably already given it a quick check before moving on, after all, he still thinks him and Zim were friends. Not to mention his father probably thinks that he's still in New York. This just might work.

Dib crawled into the spare seat in the escape pod. It was much roomier than Zim's voot, and it was usually faster, but it was much harder to fuel up. At least that's what Zim said when Dib asked why he just didn't use the escape pods to move around, since they seemed to be better. Of course, Zim also added that he liked to escape in style.

The escape pod zoomed across the sky. It seemed like it was going much to fast for them to land back at Zim's base safely. Dib looked down as he watched towns and farmer's fields pass by until they hit the ocean. Dib had to double check to see if they really were over the ocean, but a look on Zim's monitor proved it was.

"Uh, Zim, where are we going. Isn't your base back home?"

Zim waved off Dib's question. "I have more than one base on Earth. Like any good Invader, I set up several emergency bases in case one was ever compromised. I'm surprised you never figured that out. You were usually good and figuring out things like that."

"I guess I sort of thought that you were only in one place. You never seen to go anywhere else. So, were are we going?"

"To Italy!"

"Why there? There are a few places on Earth where my father doesn't have any control."

"Because I didn't build bases there."

"How many other bases do you have?"

"Just one."

"Do you even know what several means?"

"It means more than one." They hovered over a house that looked a lot like Zim's other base, but there wasn't another building to be seen for miles. "We're here."

The roof of the house opened up and Zim landed the escape pod. The pod opened and Zim jumped out as the roof closed back up. Dib crawled out after him and looked around. It looked exactly like Zim's other base. Everything was the same except there were less of GIR's scribbles on the walls.

The floor dropped down, taking both of them and the escape pod down to the main floor. Zim jumped onto the main floor, followed by Dib who almost didn't jump in time as the escape pod was brought further down into the base. Dib stumbled on his landing and fell forward as the floor closed up.

"You could have warned me you were going to do that."

"I didn't, the base did. The escape pod was in pretty bad condition from your crash. I'm surprised we didn't blow up on the way here."

"Wait, if you knew it was in such bad shape, then why were you saying we could have made it out of the atmosphere."

"Because I knew you wouldn't come if you thought it would kill you."

"You know Zim, people don't trick people that they love."

"Of course they do. I see you humans lie to each other all the time. And I was just thinking of you," Zim said, making Dib groan. "And Zim's such a great pilot that we didn't die, so stop worrying Dib," Zim continued, "Anyway, it's about time I showed you to your room."

"My room?"

"Yes, I have one made just for you. After all, you humans do need your sleep."

"You made a room for me?"

"Are your ears full of goo? Of course I did. Zim is awesome."

Zim led Dib to a set of stairs that were behind the couch. They went down for quite a ways before they stopped at a level with halls on both sides. Zim took Dib to the right. The hall wasn't long, only a few steps and a turn, and at the end of it was a circular door that was just a little too short for Dib.

It spun open and Dib ducked down through it, and stood up. Inside was an exact copy of his room. Right down to the colours and pieces of clothes on the floor. It looked exactly like how he left his old room. Even the size and height of his old room was copied. Everything was the same, right down to the smell.

Dib turned around to look at Zim, who was grinning. "I thought you said you weren't going to do any more gifts?"

"I made this before I said that, so it doesn't count."

Dib smiled a bit and gave a small laugh. He started walking around the room, feeling everything to see how good of a replication it was. So far he couldn't tell the difference. Zim had gotten everything, right down to the dents in the desk from where Dib would often smack his head in frustration.

He didn't expect Zim to have gotten so much. He couldn't even imagine how. Sure, Zim could have scanned his room to get all the details, but Dib wasn't sure how effective the scan could have been. It didn't seem possible that Zim got all this information without having to look over every detail himself. He knew Zim could be extremely focused on things that caught his attention, but Dib never imagined Zim could be this focused. Even Dib wasn't so obsessive compulsive that he would catch tiny details like this.

"How is it? Isn't Zim great?"

"It's great," Dib said, unsure if he was even saying the right word to describe it.

"Excellent. You get comfortable and Zim'll see if I can find something that's edible for humans."

Zim marched out and Dib sat down on the bed. A few seconds after the door closed, he fell backwards, staring at the ceiling. Zim even included all the patch work scars from all the times his room has been blown up or otherwise destroyed.

Zim really did keep track of everything. Dib wondered if Zim was just confusing love for obsession, which just made him wonder if there really was a difference. Dib knew he had been obsessed with fighting Zim and proving to the world that Zim was an alien. But thinking back over the past few years, he hasn't been doing that as much. He also didn't put as much effort into stopping Zim's plans anymore. But then, did Zim ever have plans that required much effort to stop?

Dib sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He still sort of missed that long piece of hair that stuck out, even if it did make him look like his father. It was one of the things that sort of made him, him. Sort of like his trench coat and glasses. Dib covered his face with his arm and sighed again. Did he really put so much of his identity into so few things? His clothes and hair and chasing Zim? And now that all of that was gone, who was he? And what should he do now?


	15. Chapter 15

Zim came back half an hour after leaving with a few pieces of pizza on a large plate. He sat the plate next to Dib who stared at it with a little bit of disgust. A part of him wanted to just push the pizza away. He wasn't quite sure who his new self was, but he definitely knew he was sick of pizza.

Dib couldn't hold back a groan at the sight of the two greasy slices that sat on the plate.

"Was that a hungry groan or a tired groan?" Zim asked.

"No, neither, um... thanks for the pizza," Dib said awkwardly, taking a piece and making himself take a bite.

Zim watched in total disgust. "How can you humans eat that stuff? It's all gross and cheesy and disgusting."

"I don't know, because we can. And not all humans like pizza."

"Do you?"

"Sometimes, not so much anymore," Dib admitted. Zim then pulled the pizza away from Dib. "Hey, what was that about?"

"If you don't like Zim's pizza, then you don't have to eat it."

"I'm not trying to say I don't like your pizza. It's just that pizza isn't really my favourite food."

"Dib, I've suffered through enough of your human foods to know the torture of eating something disgusting. So let's go and find something you do want to eat. Maybe we'll find a food that doesn't make me vomit."

Zim grabbed Dib's hand and started pulling him out of the room. It felt kind of weird holding Zim's hand, but then, anyone's hand would probably feel weird to Dib, no one's ever held his hand before. It was one of the things that made him the most sad when he saw couples walking by. It looked so nice to be that close to someone. He never in a million years thought that Zim would be the first to grab his hand. Dib tried to suppress a blush as he felt Zim's fingers woven through his.

They went back up the stairs. Dib wondered why Zim didn't just put elevators everywhere like he did at his other base, even Zim was starting to look a little tired of going up and down all these stairs, and there were more stairs going deeper into the base. They came out from behind the couch. It was still bright out, although the sun looked like it was starting to set. Dib had no idea how long they've been down there.

They walked out the front door of the base. Dib finally was able to get a good look around. It was country for as far as he could see, and on one side of the house was a vineyard filled with grapes. Dib stared at them the longest. He had no idea what Zim wanted with grapes. Sure he could poison them, but was there really a grape market big enough for that to make an impact? And then Dib remembered Zim wasn't trying to take over the world anymore, but that just made the fact that Zim seemed to be growing grapes by his base all the more confusing. They could belong to someone else, but there wasn't another house for miles.

"Zim, are all of these grapes yours?"

"Of course not, Zim hates those disgusting berries. GIR was the one who planted them. He uses this base when I'm not around. He turned one part of the base into a wine making plant, which you humans seem to buy from a lot. I tried his disgusting wine juice, but it nearly killed me."

"Well, they do call alcohol poison," Dib muttered, not really talking to anyone.

"Yes, I know that now. Come on Dib, we have to be quick if we're going to make it to town." Zim motioned to a hover moped.

Dib stared at it. "I never thought that you'd drive human transportation."

"Not all of your human things are bad, some are decent enough, not as good as Irken, but it works enough to suit its purpose. Now hop on, I'm driving."

Dib climbed onto it. Not too happy that he had to be riding in the back. "You know, Zim, you don't have to do this."

"Nonsense, I don't want you starving while we hide here. Now hold on Dib, I like to go fast!"

Just as he said that, the moped jumped forward and tore down the road. Dib held tightly onto Zim as he pushed harder on the gas and went even faster.

"I didn't think these things went this fast," Dib said, the wind taking most of his words.

"They don't, but I improved it." He pushed harder on the gas and Dib nearly lost his grip when the moped leaned back like it was a bike doing a wheely.

They drove for only about twenty minutes, but they probably covered a hundred miles in that time. On that bike they probably could have driven across the entire world in a day, maybe less. Fortunately, Zim slowed down by the time they reached the town and stopped at the first building there. Dib stood up, his legs a little shaky from doing his best not to fall off the bike. Zim strolled along like nothing was wrong.

The town was really small, probably just large enough to be called a town. It was more of a hamlet than a town. There was one main road that went through the town, where most of the stores and restaurants were placed, and maybe only a few blocks worth of houses behind them. Dib looked around, he couldn't understand most of what was written. Everything was in Italian.

Zim walked up to one of the stores and picked up an apple. "Hey, Dib, you like apples, right?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess so."

"Hey, shop drone, how many monies for the apples?" Zim asked the clerk.

Dib didn't expect that the shop owner to understand Zim because he answered in Italian. Probably no one understood English in this town. But a few seconds later, Zim was handing the clerk some money and marched back to Dib with the apples.

"How did he understand you?"

"Irkens have translators in their pack, even the most obscure backwater species can be talked to, provided they have even the most primitive of intelligence. It lets us blend into any planet's society, and lets us know if anyone is talking behind our backs."

"Really? So then what does real Irken sound like?"

Zim paused to think for a bit. "I don't really know. It's been deleted from Irken memory for a while now, I think. It was probably a stupid language anyways."

"Oh, that's kind of sad," Dib said.

"Huh?"

"Well, you don't even know your own language. Isn't that kind of part of your identity?"

"Don't be foolish, identity isn't created by stupid little things like that. It's about what you do. Zim's proven his identity as one of the greatest Irken alive by the big brains themselves by being such a great invader. You're identity is that crazy kid no one talked to in school."

"Thanks," Dib said sarcastically.

"No problem," Zim responded, not picking up on the sarcasm. "So, is this all the food you need, or do you need more?"

"I don't know," Dib said, looking at the big bag of apples Zim had bought. "We'll probably need some bread as well. Maybe we should get a lot, after all, you made your base far away from here."

"Excellent. To the bread place." Zim marched over to another store.

Dib followed for a bit. An old woman tried to talk to him, but it was in Italian so he tried to pretend he didn't hear her. She was probably mentioning how she's never seen him before, but Dib had no way of telling, so he kept walking.

Zim had picked out nearly every kind of bread in the bakery, and was already carrying them to the register by the time Dib caught up. It was kind of funny to see Zim carrying so much bread, not to mention he was still trying to balance the bag of apples in his arms.

Zim dropped all the bread onto the counter and the cashier had the misfortune of having to bag all of that bread. Zim handed all the bags to Dib and marched out of the store.

Dib was almost juggling the all the bags in his arms. Zim was only carrying two bags, leaving Dib with the remaining dozen. Dib was starting to wish that he had given Zim a more definite number. He should have said maybe five or so, instead of the fifty Zim had picked up.

"Is there anything else you need?" Zim asked.

Dib struggled to keep all the bags in his arms, "No, I think we might have enough." He wasn't even sure how they were getting to get all of this back.

"Good," Zim said and they walked back to the hover moped.

Dib was sort of expecting a slightly longer trip, but he also didn't expect that Zim would buy out all the bread in the store. He also didn't expect that Zim was actually able to fit all of the bags into the back storage of the small bike. It was a tight fit, but they were able to fit all but the bag of apples into the backseat compartment.

Dib held tight as Zim started up the bike and they zoomed out of town. For all Dib could tell, they probably have hit the speed of sound. It felt as if the apples were turning into mush from the force Dib used to avoid falling off. It felt as if they were falling off the back of the bike for a while.

Zim weaved around the road, laughing as he sped up. Dib tried asking for Zim to slow down, but Zim didn't seem to hear him. Either the wind was too strong for Dib to speak, or Zim was just ignoring him. It was probably the first one, Dib could barely hear himself over the roar of the wind.

Dib held on tighter to Zim. He never noticed before, but Zim was really warm and soft. Dib had been this close to Zim before, but he never had taken the time to realize how close to human temperature and feel Zim was. Dib held on tighter, not because of the speed this time, but because he felt a little safer next to Zim. Zim kept weaving around the road, then he took a sharp turn.

Suddenly, Dib was feeling weightless. The bike was flipping over forward and in a few slow seconds, they hit the ground, rolling down the dirt road with all the bags that had burst from the backseat compartment. When he finally stopped moving, Dib was surrounded by tall grass, in the ditch. He tried to get up, but his right arm wasn't working anymore, or rather, it wasn't on his shoulder anymore.

It was sitting about a hundred feet away, in not too good of shape, and from the way he struggled to sit himself back up, his left arm wasn't any better. As he tried to sit up, he felt a sharp pain in his side and he fell back down. It was starting to be hard to breath. Dib coughed a bit, but every cough was agonizing.

He must have punctured a lung. He wished he didn't try to sit up. Dib stared up at the sky, he could see some crows flying over head. Maybe they were waiting for him to die, or maybe Zim. Maybe Zim was already first on the menu.

He tried to crawl out of the ditch, but he could hear some creaks and cracks in his remaining arm. He still pushed a little harder, and a snap triggered the touch sensors in the elbow of the arm. Any more movements with it was even worse than the pain in his chest.

Dib could hear Zim groan not that far off. "How did that happen?" He could hear Zim ask. "A puppy! Curse those puppies! Why must they always trip Zim up?" He could hear a puppy yip as Zim kicked it off the road. "Hey Dib, where'd you go off to?" Dib tried to answer, but he could barely breath. "Dib? Answer Zim!"

"Here," Dib said, his voice was more of a breathy squeak than an actual answer, but Zim managed to find him anyway.

Zim ran to his side, holding his right arm. "Dib..." Zim said, his voice didn't have the arrogance and power it usual had. He looked sad. "Dib, are you okay?"

Dib tried to speak, but he could barely keep enough air to stay conscious. Zim started to shake him, but it only made things feel worse. Dib could barely see anything anymore, the only thing he could see was Zim right in front of his face. Dib's head felt like it was going to explode. He kept trying to take in more air, but the deeper he breathed, the more pain he was in.

Just before Dib passed out, he heard Zim say, "Don't worry Dib, I'll fix you."


	16. Chapter 16

Dib woke up slowly. For a while he was only vaguely aware of where he was. A burning ache throughout his chest brought him more and more out of his sleep. As he opened his eyes, he realized he was back in his room. For a few minutes he thought he was back home, but soon his memory of what had happened came back to him.

His chest still hurt so much. He reached for a pillow to hold against his chest to make it feel better. The pillow caught against some tubes, including the one attached to his breathing mask. Very carefully, he moved the pillow around them and curled up against it. The pillow made things feel a little better, but there still was some pain.

He looked at the beside table and saw Zim had left him something to eat. There was a slice of bread with a little bit of honey on it next to a small pile of apple slices. Dib tried sitting up to eat, but a sharp pain reminded him he still wasn't better, so he did his best to pull the plate down to him.

It looked like it had been sitting for a little while. The bread had gone soggy with the honey and the apple slices turned a brownish colour. He still ate them. Dib was starved. He hadn't eaten since yesterday, if it was still only that long ago. Dib wondered how long he had been out of it.

He finished all the food, which wasn't so bad, he definitely had worse at the hospital, and put the plate back on the table. He wanted to roll onto his back, but most movement made him feel worse, so he stayed in one position. He laid there for hours. He was almost ready to fall back asleep when Zim came into the room.

Zim didn't say anything to him. He wouldn't even look at Dib. He checked the machines around the bed, adjusting them to make sure they worked properly, and then he picked up the plate and left. He did everything with the same coldness as some of the doctors Dib had met at the hospital.

Dib couldn't even read Zim's face as he went about his business. There didn't seem to be any expression on Zim's face, no concern, anger, happiness, sadness, his face was just blank. Zim's expressionless expression had Dib worried. Something must be wrong, Zim was almost never expressionless. He was always full of energy and had some sort of expression on his face. This almost didn't look like Zim. It looked like a robot in Zim's skin.

"Zim..." Dib said when Zim came back into the room a while later to check up on the machines again. Dib's voice was still weak and raspy, but Zim still could hear it..

Zim sighed, his head dropped down, and Dib could have sworn he had seen an actual expression for the first time in hours, but it faded away as quickly as it came as Zim turned towards Dib, still not quite looking at him. "Yes? Is there something wrong?"

"That's exactly what I'm going to say. Come on, Zim, you haven't said a word since I woke up. What's going on? I'm not dying am I?"

"No, not anymore, thanks to Zi... me." His entire self seemed to collapse into that 'me.'

"Zme?" Dib said joking, hoping to get Zim to smile again, or at least to show some sort of expression.

"Yes," Zim said, and turned around to leave.

"Wait Zim," Dib called out. Zim stopped and half turned to Dib. "It's not your fault. It's not like you crashed on purpose, right?"

"Well of course it's not Zim's fault," Zim declared with almost the same enthusiasm as his normal self, "It's your puny little fault. Why do you humans have to be so fragile. I've seen creatures made of crystal that are studier than you."

"What, so this is my fault?" Dib said in a mock argument, "Why not blame that puppy you said caused the crash, why not blame all puppies for tripping people up?"

"Yes, why don't we."

A big smile spread on Zim's face like he was contemplating ridding the world of all puppies. Dib smiled as he watched Zim imagine for a little while, then he dismissed the idea with a wave of his hands, saying something about it being too hard, like trying to get rid of germs.

Dib smiled a bit more, which made Zim smile as he looked at Dib. They kept this quiet gaze for a few minutes, then they burst out into laughter. It wasn't so much that it was funny, but it was like all the tension was finally leaving the air in those laughs.

Dib laughed as hard as he could until his chest started to hurt some more. Zim, turning back into the blank nurse mode, went over to make sure everything was fine. Dib kept eye contact, smiling as Zim worked. Zim couldn't help but look back as Dib, and a small smile broke back out on his face.

Despite having just crawled from a motorcycle accident with a collapsed lung and probably even more damage, this was probably the best moment of his life. And if things kept going the way they have been over the past few days, then things might just get better.

Dib chuckled at that. It was hard to imagine things getting better with the way his luck was. He could summon an ancient god and work his butt off to make it happy enough to grant him a wish, only to have some idiot take his wish by asking for ice cream. In fact, that did happen.

That was the kind of luck he had. Dib knew things were going to get bad, possibly the worst he had ever experienced to counter balance these nice, happy times. He knew it was going to happen, it always does, but laughing here with Zim, his former worst enemy, was too good to just waste while worrying about what will happen.

"So, do you need anything? Food... water?" Zim said the last one reluctantly.

"I am a little thirsty," Dib said sheepishly, "But it doesn't have to be water," He quickly added.

"OK, Poop Cola coming right up," Zim said, turning on his heel and marching out.

Dib relaxed into the bed, still holding the pillow against his chest. His ribs still hurt from the laughing earlier, but they didn't damped the mood he was in, too much. Dib thought about how Zim was helping him, and not for ulterior reasons, and how sad he was when he thought Dib was going to die. If anything convinced Dib that Zim wasn't playing a trick or that this was part of some bigger scheme, it was the look on his face. Dib had seen a lot of looks on Zim, but never an expression that lost.

Dib realized he had fallen back asleep a little while later. He looked around, but he couldn't see Zim, but he could see a cold can of Cola sitting next to him. It was so cold that there was still condensation on the side of the can. Zim had left it on the table with a bendy straw in it so Dib wouldn't have as much trouble drinking it while lying down.

Dib finished half the can before putting it back on the table and lying back down. He didn't know why he was so tired. Maybe Zim had given him some sort of drug, but whatever it was, the only thing it seemed to do was make him tired.

He fell back asleep not long after that. It wasn't so bad falling asleep constantly, while he was asleep he could forget about how much his chest hurt, and after all, there wasn't much else to do but sleep at the moment. The pillow Dib was holding onto his chest was starting to become warmer. It was almost like holding a hot compress next to his body.

Dib had a few dreams while he was sleeping. He never slept very deeply, so most of the time he only caught the slightest mist of a dream, and most of the ones he did remember were of him running away from his father. But there was this one dream, he wasn't sure if it was a dream or not. It wasn't a very complex dream, but it was just of Zim crawling up next to him.

Dib kind of liked that dream. In it Zim was so warm and stayed so still that it made everything feel better. Dib cuddled up closer to his pillow, it was feeling warmer and warmer with every second. He sighed happily. It felt like it had been too long since he's had a restful sleep.

Dib started to feel more awake. He noticed that there was a hard spot on his pillow. Dib opened his eyes and saw Zim curled up under his arms. He had removed the pillow and was sleeping against Dib's chest. Dib hugged Zim closer. He wasn't quite as squishy as the pillow, but he was just as soft.

He wondered if Zim was actually asleep. His eyes were half open, but he didn't seem to be responding to Dib's movement. Maybe Zim still thought Dib was asleep. Dib gave a sleepy half smile and kissed the top of Zim's head.

Zim squirmed a bit, but only to get more comfortable as he draped one arm over Dib in a lazy hug. Maybe Irken's sleep with their eyes open. Dib curled up and tried to fall back asleep, but it felt as if he has slept enough for a year, so he just laid there, holding Zim.

It took Zim a while before he actually started to move again. Dib was certain that Zim had been asleep. For a while he was sure that Irkens didn't sleep, but maybe Zim slept far more often than Dib thought. Like during school when Zim would go quiet for a little while. Back then he thought that Zim was just bored, but if he knew Irkens sleep with their eyes open, then that would have changed his entire strategy. But if that happened, the none of this would have happened either. He would have still been under his father's control. There would have been no one to have saved him.

"Zim?" Dib said, testing whether or not Zim was awake or asleep.

"Hmm," Zim said, he didn't sound drowsy like Dib expected, but he didn't quite sound at full energy. Probably closer to bored.

"Were you asleep?"

"Of course not. Irkens need no sleep." Zim's determined tone was betrayed by a yawn that he noticeably suppressed.

"Then what were you doing all this time?"

"Thinking."

"About what?"

"Lot's of things."

"Yeah, you were asleep," Dib said.

"Zim does not sleep!" Zim said like a little kid.

"Fine, so do you want to tell me what you were thinking?" Dib asked, trying to sit up a little more.

"What do you think about seeing the universe?"

"The universe?"

"I was thinking we take a ship and fly around the universe until people forget about the reward for you."

"I don't know," Dib said.

"Don't tell me after years of chasing aliens, you aren't the least bit curious about seeing actual alien planets."

"I am, I just want to stop running for a little bit. After years of chasing aliens, I think I'm ready for a break."

"OK. Besides, there's not much out there. Most of the universe is boring." Zim curled back up against Dib's chest.

Dib stared at the ceiling. He still was too awake to go to sleep. He couldn't believe that he turned down a trip around the universe. It was something he promised himself when he knew the Earth was safe, but now that things were safe, he was too tired to do anything. Maybe he just needed a bit of a vacation. It had only been a week since he was last on high alert to save the Earth, and barely a moment of that week was spent relaxed.

Dib took a deep breath in and sighed. He realized the pain in his chest was gone. He wondered if he just slept through his recovery, or if Zim had given him something to make the pain go away, or maybe it was Zim himself that helped him get better. Dib also noticed that the tubes were gone. It looked like everything was getting better.

He pulled Zim in closer, who really did look like he was sleeping with his eyes open. Maybe Dib did only need a few days to rest. To have a bit of a normal life before exploring the universe. Granted, it would be a normal life with an alien invader who had just confessed love to him, but it would be more normal than most of his life.


	17. Chapter 17

Author's Note: Sorry about the late update. I forgot that we were moving, and didn't plan well enough before the internet was shut off. Most of the moving is done, although the house is a mess, so there's still a lot of work to do before things get back to normal. I don't know when the internet will come back on, so it might be a little while before I can add another chapter.

* * *

><p>The next few months have been some of the best in Dib's life. For the first time in a while he was able to just sit around and enjoy himself. Do nothing all day, or go out looking for whatever he could find. Some people were saying he could find some vampires in Italy, but he was sure those were made up by people who have no idea what vampires really are. He did check it out anyway. Turned out to be the stupidest thing he had ever seen, and he had a long list of stupid things.<p>

Zim was actually much better than he expected. Zim gave him all the attention he could. Dib kind of felt special getting all this attention, and not having it include someone calling him crazy. Zim actually cared. He was still a little awkward with most things, like boundaries, but he was getting better. It helped that most nights they would just sit and watch TV. Thanks to Zim's access to all of Earth's satellites, they could watch whatever they wanted. There weren't as many good paranormal shows as there was when Dib was a kid, but some days they didn't even bother looking for anything in particular.

Dib was sure that these were the best days of his life. He never had so much time of quiet and peace. He couldn't even remember a time when he was peaceful. He knew he was always a few inches away from insanity. It was hard not to go insane when everyone was calling you crazy, and even harder when there was no one to balance him when things were hard, and to make it worse, he had to fight for the Earth every day. Everything was so crazy inside of him. It was like there was a million voices going off in his head, most telling him that everything was pointless and that he should give up, some telling him that he needed to save the world, and the loudest was telling him he needed to prove he was right. It was that last one that drove him the most crazy. He had to stop listening to that one years ago.

Dib spent most of his days just wandering around the base. He probably knew where everything was. He found out that the reason Zim had so much money to spend was that GIR's wines were some of the most prized. It surprised Dib to find out that GIR was actually capable of something halfway useful. GIR's winery took up a large portion of the base, using some of Zim's machines to make it automatically, which surprised Dib even more.

When Zim first told him that he was in love, Dib found it a little hard to believe. He had heard that love and hate were the same, but he always thought that those people have never really hated anyone before. Dib knew he hated Zim. Zim had humiliated Dib, injured Dib, turned everyone against him, nearly killed him on so many occasions, and that was just in the first year of knowing Zim. But Dib never really had any love to compare the hate to, and now he started to feel it. The same passion and concentration he had when he hated Zim, but it wasn't angry and didn't make him feel frustrated, it was happy and relieving.

Dib never knew things could feel this way. Even when the bread started to become stale because he couldn't eat it all fast enough, it was still good with Zim around. It was like the entire world became delicious. He now understood what people meant by rose colored glasses. At first he thought it meant that they were stupidly optimistic, but he would be damned if the world didn't seem just a little bit pinker.

Even though Zim didn't sleep, at least that's what Zim said, Dib and Zim spent the entire night sleeping in Dib's bed. He didn't know how Zim was able to stay so still for so long. Usually he was so impatient that he couldn't sit still for five minutes. Zim said that it was because Dib talked in his sleep, and he'd spend all that time talking with Dib's sleep self. As weird as that sounded, it was fun to find out what he was saying while he slept.

They still hadn't had sex, not really. Zim didn't really have any genitals, and Dib still wasn't quite ready for that kind of relationship. There was a part of him that really did want to feel Zim that way, and he knew Zim wanted to have the full human relationship experience, even if Zim just wanted it because he thought that was what he should want. He never realized how unstable Zim's sense of self was. During countless conversations about Zim's past, he noticed Zim only did anything because he thought it was what he should.

Dib tried to help Zim create his own sense of self that didn't revolve around others, but it was kind of hard. Zim was able to avoid any change with the simple argument that he didn't have to make his own self when all personalities were created by their social experience. Dib eventually gave up trying and just let Zim do what he wanted.

One night, about three months after they had first come to Italy, Dib and Zim were curled up in bed. Dib still had a few scars on his chest from flying off the motorcycle that still hadn't healed. It didn't seem like they ever would. The pain in his chest was gone, but sometimes it still would be hard to breath. Sometimes Dib would consider going to a doctor to have his chest examined, but Zim was a more than a little uncomfortable with someone looking at Dib, and Dib knew that as soon as the doctor saw his arms and legs, he would call his father and all of this would be over.

But at night, all of the discomfort would be come completely as Zim curled up against his chest. That night Dib couldn't sleep. He knew Zim could tell, but they just laid there in the dark, quiet. Dib listened the the sound of Zim's breathing and the slow whirls of his pak working. Sometimes Dib thought about looking to see how Zim's pak worked. He knew it kept Zim alive and held his personality, as self-centered and unfocused it was, and that it held almost everything, but Dib was too scared to really look. He was worried he would touch something he shouldn't and kill Zim. And for as long as he could remember, he never really wanted to kill Zim, if he did then no one would believe there was a live alien in their skool.

Dib had started absentmindedly playing with Zim's antenna. Zim sounded like he was enjoying it. Dib couldn't see how Zim looked, but he could feel Zim grab onto his shirt and curl up closer as Dib touched his antenna.

As Zim laid there, he softly said, "I love you."

"I love you too," Dib said, nearly whispering it against Zim's antenna.

"You really do?" Zim asked, knowing the last time he said that, Dib started denying he really said it.

"I think I do," Dib said slowly. He still wasn't fully sure if he was really feeling something for Zim, but right now the words felt right, and after everything they had done together, and everything Dib had been through, he deserved to feel love. "I think I love you." His voice still quivered a bit as he said it. He was scared that if he said it, and he realized that he misunderstood the feelings for something else, there was no taking them back and both of them would end up hurt.

"You sound scared Dib," Zim said. Dib was glad that Zim probably couldn't see him in the dark, because if Zim could, then he would see all the feelings flood onto Dib's face without any barriers to hold them back. All of Dib's fear of losing all of this, sadness at knowing that he couldn't say he loved Zim without hesitation, anger at himself for not being able to control this. "What are you so afraid of?" Zim asked in a soft voice.

"I'm afraid that if I'm not really sure, that if I say something that I realize I don't mean or that I think I'm in love but realize it's still something else, then..." Dib trailed off. He still wasn't sure exactly what would happen if it turned out that what he named these feelings was wrong, but he knew it wouldn't feel good.

"How can you not know what love is?" Zim asked, "You species prides itself on its ability to love. It's something Irkens don't even have a word for. My pak can't give a translation for what love is."

"Then how can you say it?" Dib asked, "If you don't know what it is, then how do you know?"

"I don't. Zim just does what he usually does, do what ever his gut tells him and keep going, never looking back."

"How can you just act without looking back?" Dib asked, "How can you not be terrified of what might happen if you're wrong?"

"Irkens don't know fear. Besides, even if I'm wrong, it can't be worse than doing nothing, can it?"

"I don't know..."

"Trust me, Dib." Zim leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "What do you think about that?"

"I... I don't know. I kind of like it, I guess."

"See, Zim didn't know if you would hate it or not, but I did it anyway." Zim kissed Dib again, this time on the lips. "See, it wasn't so bad. Now you try it."

"Zim, kissing isn't the same as love," Dib said.

"Do you refuse to kiss me because you're scared?" Zim said in a teasing manner. "Little scaredy Dib, too scared of his feelings for a little lip contact."

"I'm not scared," Dib said, kissing Zim back.

"See," Zim said, Dib couldn't see Zim's face, but he could tell from the way his words sounded that he was smiling, "It's easy." Zim kissed Dib again.

Dib held Zim's lips in place with his own. Dib breathed in deeply through his nose, taking in Zim's smell. It was so nice, sort of like baby powder and doughnuts, and a little bit like glue. Zim leaned in closer to Dib, running his finger's through Dib's slightly longer hair, up to the top of Dib's head were the long cowlick used to be. Zim wrapped a piece of hair that was starting to grow back up around his finger and made it sound out even more.

They stayed curled up together like this for a while. Slowly tangling their limbs together. In a way it almost felt as if they were just one being, one being that was split apart long ago and now finally together again. After the longest kiss Dib had ever had in his life, Zim set his head down on Dib's chest, probably listening to Dib's heart. Dib ran his hand back up to Zim's head and went back to Zim's antenna.

"Please stop doing that for a while," Zim said. There wasn't much conviction in Zim's voice to ask Dib to stop, but Dib let go then anyway.

"Why?" Dib asked, he was curious about what Zim used them for.

"I just want to relax for a bit, and it's hard to when you're touching them like that." Zim sighed against Dib's chest, "because you smell so good."

Dib smiled and let his hand fall down onto Zim's back, just above his back. He could feel a slight buzz in it as he relaxed with Zim. Dib slowly started to drift off to sleep. Just before he completely fell asleep, Dib said "I love you." He still wasn't sure if he meant it or if he was just saying it out of a sleepy daze, but it felt good to say, and knowing there was no turning back, he relaxed and fell asleep.


	18. Chapter 18

_OK, I've just spent the past few weeks moving into my new place. I've been without internet for the past three weeks and it was only today that the phone company finally was able to get here to let me update my stories. I feel bad that I've fallen a bit behind on my posting, so I'm going to spend today posting up the next three chapters. Enjoy._

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><p>Dib woke up that morning, and despite saying something that still had him scared, nothing has changed. Zim was still lying next to him. The room was exactly how it was when the night started. The computer had turned on the lights at the same time as it had every day. Dib confessed his love for someone he knew he shouldn't love. Not just because Zim was his enemy when Dib was a kid, and not just because Zim was an alien, and there were a lot of not just because that added up to the whole thing.<p>

Zim didn't seem to notice as Dib got out of bed. He must really be "deep in thought" to not notice all of the movement. It was kind of weird seeing Zim just lying there with his eyes open. It kind of looked like he was dead. Dib changed into some clean clothes and sat down on the bed, watching Zim.

Zim didn't see to be aware of any of it. Dib wondered what it was like to sleep like that. Did Zim see everything that was going on, or was it like going blind for a while. Zim did seem to blink every now and then, but that was just a reflex. Dib was curious about how conscious Zim was in this state.

Dib carefully set his hand on Zim's shoulder and paused. Zim didn't react. He started to softly rub Zim's shoulder, getting a little firmer as he waited for Zim to show any sign that he was awake, but Zim didn't even stir. Soon Dib was just shaking Zim, but all that it accomplished was Zim rolled onto his back, still asleep.

Zim started to snore a little when he rolled onto his back, so Dib rolled him back onto his side. It looked uncomfortable for Zim to sleep like that. Zim stopped snoring when he was back on his side. Dib laid down next to Zim and quietly waited for Zim to wake up. Zim did this almost every other day, and there was nothing to do but wait when Zim was this asleep.

Other than the sound of Zim's breath, it was quiet. It was these moments that Dib enjoyed the most. There was peace and quiet, like the world outside didn't exist except in some strange nightmare. It was like nothing bad ever happened, and there only thing in the world was this warmth, comfort and silence. The past few months have been like none of the past had happened. Neither of them spoke much about it, all they talked about was either the future or just about the day.

Zim hadn't moved for a while. Sometimes Dib wondered if Zim really was dead when he slept and his breathing was a product of the pak continuing to work. Zim was usually full of energy, although he seemed a little more calm lately. He always had something to say or do and was almost always moving. Seeing him so still, laying there with his eyes open, was really creepy sometimes.

Zim was so still, that Dib was nearly startled when Zim's antenna twitched. It wasn't unusual for them to just move on their own, it was sort of like a cat's tail. They just move on their own even if Zim was awake. But they had caught Dib's attention.

He slowly rubbed Zim's antenna, which made them go still. He gently began to play with them. Zim started to make small whimpering noises and twitch a bit. Dib moved further along the antenna, closer to the end of them, softly petting them with his finger. Zim went still for a moment, and then started to curl up as Dib got closer to the end of them.

Zim was starting to look uncomfortable as Dib rubbed the ends of his antenna. Dib let go but Zim started whining until Dib put his hands back on his antenna. Dib chuckled a bit to himself. It seems Zim is awake now. As he started rubbing Zim's antenna again, a cruel idea popped into Dib's head. He gave Zim's antenna a quick pinch.

Zim yelped and jumped away from Dib. He curled up on the other side of the bed, holding his antenna at the back of his head. He gave Dib an evil stare as he held the sore spot on his antennas.

"I see you're awake now," Dib said.

"I was never asleep. And don't ever handle them that way!"

"I'm sorry Zim," Dib said.

Zim kept giving him that evil stare for a while longer before sighing. "It's alright. Just be careful next time." Zim rubbed the sore spot a little longer before letting go of his antenna. "They're very sensitive."

"So, what do you use those for anyway?" Dib asked. He had been wondering that for a while, but as much information as he was able to get from Zim's computers and anything else he could hack into, they didn't offer much information about the specifics of Irken anatomy.

"Huh?" Zim grunted as he thought about Dib's question. "They are used for everything. Touch, smell, hearing, anything we need. You humans spread out all your senses around your body."

"So, if you lost your antenna, you'd be deaf?"

"Don't be silly, we'd never put so much into one tiny part of us. The pak takes care of most of it."

"So, when I was touching them, you were smelling me?"

"Like if I picked your nose," Zim said like doing so was an everyday occurrence.

Dib cringed at that image of Zim picking Dib's nose, and he couldn't stop himself from putting that image over what he had just done. It made him shudder to imagine it.

"If your nose was clean and made you feel like you were floating every time it was touched," Zim added when he saw Dib's reaction.

"Okay," Dib said slowly. It still wasn't a nice image for him.

"Are you hungry Dib? How about I make some breakfast," Zim said.

Dib tried not to groan at the thought. Zim didn't know anything about human food. When he woke up after the crash, what he thought was just toast that had sat out too long was actually Zim's cooking. The toast had only been sitting there for less than a minute, but Zim had somehow managed to make it soggy.

"Don't worry, Zim, I can make my own 've already done so much," Dib quickly said. It's an excuse he's been using for a while, but it seemed to work. If he ate anymore of Zim's cooking he might just start running back to deal with what ever his father has planned.

Dib went back up and started scrambling some eggs. They had already thrown out most of the bread, so there was room for more food other than just apples and toast. Dib tossed some spices in with the eggs, and toasted some bread. Zim sat on the counter and watched, partly bored, partly angry that he couldn't help, and just a small bit interested in how Dib made the food.

Dib piled a plate high with eggs and started devouring it as soon as he sat down. Zim moved from the counter to the table to watch Dib eat with a mix of disgust and fascination. Probably a fascination of how Dib could eat all of that. It didn't take Dib long to finish. He actually made some good eggs if he did say so himself. All those years of being ignored by Gaz and his father, and eating crappy junk food, left him with the need to learn how to cook.

He finished the eggs quickly. He was a little hungrier than he expected. As he finished the last of the eggs, he sat his fork on his plate. He was starting to think about something Zim said a little while ago. The past few months have been great, the best in his life, and that includes the dreamed up life he had when Zim wanted him to admit to throwing the muffin.

He wasn't sure if he was pushing his luck. Hell, he hadn't even been thinking about this for a while. It had just came into his head without warning, but as he thought it through, he realized it sort of made sense. Things have been going great, and after years of chasing, running and fighting, he's finally been able to calm down and see the things he wants.

"Hey Zim," Dib said carefully. He wanted to say it quickly, to get it out before he changed his mind, to try and act before he regrets not doing so, but that part of him was still too weak to really become dominant.

"What is it?" Zim asked, staring at Dib carefully like he was trying to figure out if Dib was just about to confess to something, like eating the last of the cookies.

"Remember a few months ago, when I was still recovering from that accident?" Dib started.

Zim winced at the mention of the accident. It was one of the things they didn't talk about much. "Of course," Zim said with a bit of arrogance to mask the overpowering sound of remorse.

"Well, you know how you suggested that we explore the universe?"

"Of course I remember that. Are you saying that you want to go?"

"Yes," Dib said.

It felt as if there was a rock in his stomach. He was a little scared, even though he wouldn't admit it to Zim. The furthest he had ever been from home was the moon when he tried to stop Zim from doing something. He wasn't quite sure what it was, but at the time he knew it couldn't be good. He still wondered what Zim had planned with a box of bendy straws, ten rubber bands, twenty boxes of paper clips, and a rafting tube, but that was in the past.

"Excellent," Zim said with a big smile of his face, "I knew it wouldn't be a waste of time to upgrade the Voot."

"You prepared for a trip around the universe before you even knew I would say yes?"

"Zim knew you would say yes Dib. You've always shown an interest in anything outside your planet and your people's level of awareness. I just needed to wait for you to remember who you are."

Dib's jaw dropped. He felt a little insulted that Zim would assume so much about him that he would act without Dib knowing, and he was a little scared to know that they would be leaving so much sooner than he expected, but at the same time he was excited that he will see things no living human being had seen before.

"OK..." Dib said, "So, when are we leaving?"

"As soon as we pack up the ship with enough food. You humans eat a lot!" Zim said for probably the millionth time.

Zim then got up and left the kitchen. It wasn't long before Dib could hear the roar of the motorcycle. Ever since the accident Zim hadn't been driving it much, and when he does, he made sure Dib wasn't around it. Dib found it a little frustrating that Zim was being so overly cautions, but Zim probably was never stable enough to coordinate between the state of being overly cautions and not cautions enough.

With the sound of the motorcycle far in the distance, Dib sighed. Even the soft sigh seemed to echo through the house. He really didn't like being alone, ever. Even when he was still chasing Zim and there was no one, he would rather face his sister's beatings for making her stay in his room than be alone.

Dib got up and decided to do the dishes to keep his mind off being alone. He took a few deep breaths and calmed himself down as he scrubbed the plates. He tried to focus his mind on other things, like how he will soon be going around the universe in Zim's ship. The universe was a big place, and it will take a long time to see it all, which means a long time of not being alone. Dib sighed away all the anxiety he had been holding back and finished washing the last plate.


	19. Chapter 19

When Dib finished the dishes, he sat in front of the TV and just watched whatever he could find. Every channel on Earth, and the only thing on that was interesting was some Japanese game show. Luckily Zim didn't take too long getting back. His arrival home was evident in the thick cloud of dust his bike kicked up when it stopped.

Zim pulled a large wagon full of food through the house and towards the kitchen. Dib got up, more than happy to stop watching TV, to see where he was taking the food. Zim emptied the fridge and cupboards and then moved the precariously stacked wagon of food to the elevator in the middle of the kitchen.

Dib joined him for the ride down, looking at what Zim had gotten. It looked like he had stocked up on every item of food in town. Dib knew that there was more than enough food for one person to eat for nearly a year, but who knows how long they will be off Earth. Maybe they'll stop at some distant planet, some lush tropical planet, and decide to never leave. Dib didn't mind the thought of never coming back as much as he thought he would.

It wasn't like there was much for him here. It was his home planet, the place where he was born and the only place he knew, but he had no family to call upon, no friends to talk to other than Zim, at least, he didn't have any friends anymore. But Dib wasn't angry at that anymore. Deep down, he probably already knew it was a matter of time before they got sick of him and kicked him out anyway.

They elevator stopped a few levels down and opened up to what looked like a giant garage for space ships. The escape pod still sat in some dusty corner of the room, but the huge ship in the middle of it was what caught Dib's eye. It was as tall as a two story house, and just as wide. It had the same colour pattern as the voot, and in a way, looked like a grown up version of it. There was a huge bubble window on the front that looked like it came from the voot, only bigger. It wasn't as round as the voot; it looked like the intergalactic ship Dib could only dream to drive.

Dib stared at it. He couldn't keep his jaw closed as he walked around it. It was better than he could ever imagine. There were probably a dozen rooms in there. He had no idea how the two of them would use so much space, but it was breath taking to see. He couldn't wait to take off in it.

"You like it?" Zim asked.

"I love it."

"Wait until you see inside," Zim said with a smile.

Zim pulled the wagon with him as he used a small remote to make the ship drop down a ramp for them. Other than an elevator on the far end of the room, this first space was empty. Sort of like in some depictions of space ships, the bottom was empty to hold stuff. There was always a cargo area.

"This is the like the trunk in your human cars. We're going to collect a lot of souvenirs on our trip. That is what you humans like to get when you some place new, souvenirs?"

"Yeah," Dib said.

"Good!" Zim said, his voice echoed through out the room ten times, "I'll just drop this stuff off at the kitchen, and then I'll give you the rest of the tour."

Dib followed Zim up to the second floor of the ship. There seemed to be only two levels in this ship, which was good enough. If the inside was half as large as it looked on the outside, then there still will be more than enough room. When the elevator doors opened, Dib felt a little shocked at the appearance of this part of the ship.

It looked like a normal human house. There was hard wood floors on the hall. The doors were still metal, and opened like some of the doors deeper in Zim's base, but the rest of it looked like a quiet little home. Dib took a few cautious steps out of the elevator to see if it was actually real, but the feel of the floors seemed genuine. Either Zim had created a hologram so that it practically was, or he took the time to decorate this part of the ship to be more familiar with Dib. Both ideas seemed equally possible and ridiculous.

Dib slowly started to explore the ship, but he turned around and followed Zim down the hall into the kitchen, which sat at the back. Just like the rest of the ship, the kitchen was designed just like in a human home. But, of course, Zim wasn't exactly inept at creating them. Even in his original base, he had a kitchen, and he probably didn't know how they worked when he added it to the house part of his base.

Zim stuffed the fridge to near bursting as he packed the food in there. He assured Dib that the fridge was specially designed to keep the food fresh. No matter how long it took, that food would never go bad. But Zim did say that about the last fridge as well, and it turned out he had the calculations wrong. The rotting process was accelerated and everything was gooey mess when the next opened the fridge.

Leaving the food to whatever devices Zim's fridge had planned for it, Zim gave Dib a quick tour of the ship. There were only five rooms for them to look at. There was the living room/ controls room. The back half of it was a couch and TV, the couch was a little shorter than most couches so Zim would be able to sit on it easier, and the rest of it consisted of the controls for the ship, with two seats. Zim showed Dib where the bathroom was. Zim had actually gathered a supply of water for Dib to use if he wanted, all Dib had to do was make sure the water button was pressed rather than the paste or some other kind of goo that Zim had installed.

Zim then showed Dib where the lab was. Zim couldn't help but know he had someplace to work if he needed to. Dib was kind of curious about what sorts of things Zim considered scientific musts, but Zim was very protective of his supplies and only gave Dib a very quick look of the lab, from the door. The last room Zim wanted to show Dib was the bedroom.

To Dib's surprise, the room was very different from all the other times Zim has fixed him a room. Instead of making it look like Dib's room, it looked more like a shrine to Zim with the big Zim picture on the wall opposite to the bed. Everything was in the same red and green. Even the sheets and pillows were red and green.

"I think it looks better than ever, don't you think?"

Dib wasn't sure how he should react to this. He was caught between shock and laughter. All of this was so unexpected, that he couldn't quite come up with the words to describe it. It wasn't something he thought Zim would do. Maybe years ago, when he first met Zim, this wouldn't be such a shock, but Zim hadn't quite been acting like normal. It was probably the uncertainty of everything that's been draining Zim's confidence, Dib knew it was draining his own, but he didn't think the old Zim would just show up all of a sudden.

"It's very... you..." Dib said.

"Like?" Zim asked.

"Um..." Dib said looking around, "Yeah, I do." Dib looked around it again. It did look nice. Very soft and comfortable. Even the giant Zim picture, while kind of weird, sort of looked nice it it. "I really do," Dib added.

Zim used his spider legs to get to Dib's height and wrapped his arms around Dib's neck so that he hung off Dib as he kissed him. Dib wrapped his arms around Zim, holding him so that he wasn't just hanging off of Dib's neck. Dib slowly walked backwards into the bed so that Zim could stand as they kissed. The kiss went on for a very long while before Zim brought up something he hadn't for a while.

"Dib, I'm not sure if you want this or not, or if you're ever going to want this, but Zim wants to try out the human sexuality."

"You want sex?"

"Of course not, but it wouldn't hurt to see what would happen if we did see what it would be like. After all, aren't most human relationships based on sex?"

"I guess so," Dib said. To be honest, he had been thinking about this for a little while. Back when Zim first offered, he was terrified of what might happen, but after so much time with Zim, he was feeling a lot more comfortable. He was still scared, but curiosity of what it would feel like was beginning to overpower his fear. "OK," Dib agreed, "Let's try it."

Zim gently pushed Dib down so that he was lying on his back. Dib took a deep breath to calm himself down as he sank into the bed. He could feel Zim moving around on the bed, and undoing Dib's pants and pulling them off. The air wasn't cold, but it felt a little weird on Dib's legs. Zim pulled Dib's underwear off. Dib held his breath for a second before letting it all out. All of this was so weird, but not exactly a bad weird. Zim seemed confident in what he was doing.

"So those are you genitals," Zim commented. Dib's breath caught when Zim said that. He didn't expect Zim to just blurt something like that out. "Not bad," Zim said, "I've definitely seen worse, a lot worse." Zim then leaned down and started stroking it.

Dib gasped at the feeling. He didn't know what he should do or say. It felt better than anything he had ever experienced. Maybe it was just the sensation of having someone else's hand on him that made it feel like that. Or it could just be because of the feel of Irken fabric. But whatever it was, Dib almost regretted not agreeing earlier. Zim kept going until Dib was finished.

"So, do Irkens do things like this often?" Dib asked.

"Irkens don't reproduce. We're cloned from a big vat of genetic goo. We have been made so we can't reproduce, and we can't feel strong emotions."

"But you're the exception right?"

"Only when it comes to emotions."

"But I can still do this, right?" Dib asked, rubbing Zim's antenna.

"Yeah," Zim sighed, leaning into Dib.

Dib moved back onto the bed and laid against the pillows as Zim curled up next to him. Dib was starting to feel a little sleepy now. He didn't expect to feel this relaxed. Zim sighed beside him as Dib let his eyes close. Dib could feel himself breath slowly and calmly, in a way he hadn't done for a while. It felt like his memory was a bit of a blur of everything, and only this moment came in clear. Dib relaxed into the bed a little more, which was easy because it was a really soft bed.

He could feel himself drift off to sleep. He crawled under the blankets to keep himself warm. He cracked his eyes open to see what Zim was doing. It looked like he had already fallen asleep. His eyes stared blankly at the wall beside them. Dib rubbed the top of Zim's head between the two antenna and closed his eyes again. It felt as if each moment was the best of his life, only to find out that it was beaten by the next moment as the best in his life. Dib smiled as he drifted off. Not a bad way to start an intergalactic trip with an alien lover.


	20. Chapter 20

Dib woke up. He didn't realize he had fallen asleep, but the nap probably did him some good. Zim was still laying next to him. Curled up sort of like how a child would hug a teddy bear. Zim was the same size of a child anyway. Zim was probably an adult when he signed himself up to go to school, but it was so weird to think of him that way. Dib was a kid when he met Zim, and a part of him still saw Zim as someone his own age, but Zim was years older. He might even be hundreds of years older as far as Dib could tell.

As Dib looked around, trying to get used to the new room. It was a welcome change from Zim always recreating his old room, but it seemed a little too bold, which was exactly like Zim. At least the bed was really comfortable. Dib was about to fall back asleep, when his stomach reminded him it was time to eat. He checked his watch. They had nearly slept the entire day.

He sat up, waking Zim. Zim didn't look to happy about being woken up that way. "What is it Dib?"

"I'm just hungry. It's about dinner time."

"So," Zim said, curling back onto one of the pillows, "eat something?"

"I was thinking we ate at a restaurant or something. You know, because this is our last day on Earth and we should probably save all our food for the trip. Besides, I don't think we've ever gone out before."

"You want to eat at a human restaurant? Do you know how unsanitary some of their food preparation practices are?"

"And?"

Zim groaned and sat up, "Do you really want to eat at one of the human food establishments?"

"Yes."

"Alright!" Zim yelled, like Dib had been bugging him about it for much longer, "It's a dinner date."

Dib hugged him and got out of bed. Dib stood by the door as he waited for Zim to pull himself out of the bed. Zim looked like he was reluctantly getting out of bed, but that Cheshire grin on his face said otherwise. Dib finally dragged Zim off the ship and to the car, which Zim had made not long after the accident.

Driving a little slower than the speed limit, which frustrated Dib to no end, they headed back into town. There was only one restaurant in that town, a small little coffee shop that sold mostly sweats, but made some pretty good meals as well. The place was always decorated with live plants, today there were roses of almost all colours in the pots.

Zim picked out a table inside the shop, making sure that it was completely clean before sitting down, while Dib picked out his order and joined Zim as he waited for his food to be ready. There was a smile on Dib's face that couldn't be removed. No matter how long he's realized his feelings for Zim and all that has happened, it still seemed like a dream or a joke or something to be sitting next to an alien, in an Italian coffee shop, on a date.

"So," Zim said when Dib sat down, "Did you get what you want?" Zim was looking through a list of the food the offered.

"Yeah," Dib said. His voice almost sounded like he was laughing.

"That's good. I think we both should get what we want."

"Really? And what do you want?"

"I'm thinking the cookies. I've tried them once, and they're one of the few human foods that don't make me sick."

"Oh really?" Dib chuckled.

They talked a bit more, mostly about the food here, until dinner came. The food was pretty good. It wasn't as greasy as the stuff he usually ate, which was a welcome relief. Zim just sat there, a little uncomfortable being in a restaurant for longer than it takes to quickly get some food and leave. He had told Dib countless horror stories about the experiments he performed on restaurant seats.

After a while, Dib left for the bathroom. Unfortunately, because of the size of the restaurant, the closet bathroom was next door. Dib almost didn't make it in time. As he washed his hands, he caught his reflection in the mirror. He noticed how wide his smile was. He never really seen himself this happy before, and thinking back over the past few months, he realized how much he's been laughing. It really was like Zim had changed him, but for the better. This was even better than that virtual life Dib had. Unlike here, things weren't completely going his way, in fact, nothing he ever would have imagined or chosen for himself had happened. And yet, he felt happier than ever.

As he walked back into the restaurant. The roses really caught his eye. He plucked the brightest red he could find and held it in his hand. He could feel the thorns, but they couldn't cut through the hand. One of the benefits of loosing half his body. In a way, it was sort of like being with Zim.

He carried the flower back, walking up behind Zim. He dangled the rose between Zim's eyes and let it gently brush against Zim's skin. It took a second before Zim really noticed what was going on and he looked up to see what was touching him. As soon as Zim turned his head up, Dib leaned down and kissed him.

It was a quick kiss that was barely longer than a peak, but it caught Zim off guard. As Dib sat back down, Zim's head was still slightly turned up, with a look of shock on his face. Zim slowly brought his head back down and looked at Dib. Still a little surprised at the kiss. This was the first time Dib has really kissed him like that.

Dib held out the rose. "I got this for you."

Zim took the rose and stared at it for a while, like he didn't know what it was. He slowly took it from Dib's hands and stared at it for a bit longer.

"This is for me?"

"What? You think you're the only one who can give gifts? I know it's not as grand as all you've done for me, like saving my life and giving me a place to stay, or taking me into space, but I don't want to just receive gifts if I can't give one in return."

"Thank you," Zim said quietly.

"I know it's just a simple human gesture, but the red kind of reminds me of you."

"I love it," Zim said.

Dib's smile grew a little softer from the large one earlier, but it felt much warmer. He reached over and held the hand that wasn't holding the rose. Zim looked up at him, and even his usually dull looking contacts seemed to sparkle. A smile warmed itself onto Zim's face as he gave Dib's hand a gently squeeze back. Dib ignored his half eaten lunch and they just sat there, staring at each other.

It felt as if all of Dib's senses were focused on Zim. He didn't hear anything else, feel anything else, smell anything unless it came from Zim. As far as he could see, there was only Zim. The entire restaurant faded away until it was like they were in a black, empty void that was suddenly filled up with only Zim. In fact, if it wasn't for Zim suddenly frowning, Dib wouldn't have even noticed the angry mob that had gathered outside the restaurant.

"I think it's time to leave," Zim said, grabbing Dib's sandwich and shoving it into his pak.

Dib broke out of his daze and noticed there were twice as many people in here as before, and none of them looked like they were there for a little late dinner. Dib couldn't tell what they were saying, but it didn't sound like they were about to give them a late, welcome to the neighborhood party. It could be a bad understanding of a foreign language, but Dib was sure that pitchforks were the universal expression for "get him!"

Zim kept yelling at everyone to get out of his way, but the crowd didn't budge. Zim grabbed Dib's hand and started plowing his way through everyone. An old Lady stepped in their way and spoke a bunch of Italian while shoving a piece of paper in their face. The sign was in Italian, but it was clearly a wanted poser with Dib's face on it and more zeros than anyone has seen attached to a money sign.

Zim started to run, pulling Dib with him, who was trying to run just as fast. The knocked people in their way over, sometimes knocking them out while they were at it. They jumped into the car and sped away, burying people in the dust it kicked up, and hitting a few more who were stupid enough to jump in the way. In the rear view mirror, Dib could see that they were trying to catch up to them on foot, but Zim already had the car going faster than anything on Earth and the town was out of sight within a second.

Zim retrieved the sandwich from his pak for Dib to finish as they sped along the road, passing over that dog that liked to sit in the middle of the road.

"Well, I had a great time," Zim said.

"Me too," Dib said with a mouth full of sandwich, "We should do this again sometime."

"And maybe next time Zim'll be the one who brings the angry mob."

"Sounds great."

They went quiet, smiling at their plans as if they were completely serious, for a few seconds, then they burst out into laughter. As much as an annoyance it was to be interrupted during a meal, it wasn't a completely unexpected interruption, and it wasn't even the first time either of them had dealt with an angry mob out to get them. This still wasn't one of the worst ways to kick off a trip into space.

Zim stopped in a cloud of dust when the reached the base again. Dib wondered what would become of the bases while they're gone, but Zim said that the computer usually takes care of everything. No one should be able to get into the base when Zim wasn't around. Dib didn't hold much hope with that, seeing as he managed to sneak into the base on more than one occasion, but Zim was probably right about there being nothing to worry about.

They went through the house, turning on all the emergency measures, before leaving the base for what might be the last time. Dib sat down in the second seat in the control room as Zim prepared the ship. There were so many switches and dials that Zim used while starting up the ship, that Dib could barely keep track of them. The ship began to shake as it came to life and started to lift off the ground just a little bit.

The ceiling opened to the bright orange sky of the sun set as small bits of dirt and grass that had covered the top fell in, and clearing to reveal the while wide world. The ship slowly started to lift out of the ground and hovered just a little bit above the base. Dib could see the wide, sprawling country of wheat and vineyards. The ship started to give off a high pitch vibration as it powered up, and then suddenly they were bursting out of the atmosphere. It only took a few seconds before Earth just looked like a small marble, then it disappeared into a speck. It all happened so fast, that it took Dib's breath away. He looked forward into the back of space, decorated with small points of light.

"Well, Dib, where do you want to go first?" Zim asked as they zoomed past Pluto.

"Anywhere."

Zim gave a playful smile, "Then I have just the place."


	21. Chapter 21

_OK, I'm back to my normal posting dates. I'd like to thank everyone so much for their comments. It makes checking my email for updates that much more enjoyable. I hope you enjoy this new chapter._

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><p>Dib woke up, still a little startled by the new bedroom. In his sleepy daze, he kept forgetting where he was. He always seemed to start his days, if it even was day back home, falling out of bed, and then remembering where he was when he didn't hit the ground.<p>

Apparently not even the Irkens have discovered how to create artificial gravity. Although Zim did offer to magnetize the ground so that Dib would stick to it, Dib had the suspicion that if he ever fell, he wouldn't be able to get back up. After all, it was kind of fun to float around the place. It was sort of like swimming through air. He felt like he was one of the astronauts he watched on TV when he was four, when humanity was still trying to go into space.

He pushed off from the wall and flew to the door like a superhero. He was getting used to the zero gravity. He still had a little bit of trouble with his inertia, but he was getting better at figuring out how much force to use. He guided himself down the hall to the living room/ control room where Zim was still flying the ship. For the past week, Zim has only left his seat three or four times.

Dib floated over to Zim sitting down, which involved hovering just an inches above the seat, in the co-pilot seat.

"Did you have a good sleep?" Zim asked as Dib set the seat to lean back for a better view of the Universe.

"Fine. Although zero gravity sleeping makes me have a lot of drowning dreams."

"You'll get used to it."

"Are we there yet?" Dib asked, looking deep into the distant black dotted with faint signs of stars.

"Almost," Zim said.

Dib looked harder into space trying to see any sign of where they could be going. Zim had been quiet about where they were going. The only thing Dib knew was he would love it, and that Zim said so with a grin. They didn't talk about much these past few days. Dib was comfortable with the silence most of the time.

Despite the excitement of their departure, things quickly settled into an easy relaxed pattern. Wake up, watch the universe pass them by without even seeming to move, eat something, watch alien TV frequencies, which weren't as entertaining as they were when he was a kid looking for proof of aliens to show everything who called him crazy.

Dib tried to remember when he stopped trying to prove to everyone he wasn't crazy. He was pretty sure it happened a little while after Zim came around and started all his plots to take over the Earth. Back then, his goal slowly changed to saving the Earth from proving that he was right. Thinking back on it, he was really self involved for someone who would put his life on the line to save people who really didn't deserve it.

And not long after he made it his life's mission to save the Earth, putting off all needs for friendship, acceptance, and sleep, he started to loose interest in it. Maybe on some level he knew Zim wasn't putting his all into it, and he was matching Zim's level of effort, meaning he was putting all his energy and life into one action, and neither of them were really trying. He'd almost feel bitter about it if he didn't know that things still turned out somewhat decent. And as long as he convinced himself that all the crap that has been happening lately would have happened whether or not Zim had ever landed on Earth.

"How much longer until we get there?" He asked.

"Soon," Zim said, his grip tightening on the wheel.

That was another thing Dib did to entertain himself. Usually it was something he started when commercials about Grindippity Doos or something like that started to get repetitive, but today felt like an especially dull day. Annoying Zim was a piece of the past that didn't fade away when he realized Zim's feelings for him, and it definitely made an otherwise dull day just a little more fun.

"How soon is soon?" Dib asked.

"Soon enough."

"So how soon is soon.."

"Go away!" Zim yelled, cutting off Dib's sentence before he finished it. "You're acting like a child," he muttered under his breath.

"At least I don't look like I'm still a child."

"At least I'm not a smelly, hairy, ugly human!"

"At least I'm not an annoying, tiny, bug-like alien!"

Zim spun around in his seat to glare at Dib. His red eyes looked like they were burning. "Well at least I'm not a species that's so stupid they believe anything anyone says. An alien could walk right up to them and say 'I'm human' and they would just nod. Oh wait, that has happened."

"At least I'm not incompetent to the point that the only way my species can deal with me is to throw me to the other side of the universe."

"Don't think they didn't want to. But they are so dumb, they couldn't even come up the the fuel to get you past your own moon."

"I doubt it. Most people just ignore me and forget I exist. But you've had members of your species try to kill you," Dib said, pointing a finger at Zim, "I can't say anyone but you has actively tried to get rid of me."

"Yeah, well at least I don't have a parental figure that locked me up in a small cold space."

Dib's eyes grew wide at that. Zim suddenly realized what he had said and quickly went quiet, focusing on the space ahead. Neither of them had spoken about that day. All Zim needed to know was that Membrane had kidnapped Dib and locked him up in that room. Dib didn't want to talk about it, and Zim didn't push it.

"That wasn't all that he did," Dib said. Just remembering that day brought the feeling of being electrocuted back.

"What?"

Dib sighed. He hated to relive that moment, and he hated even more that it made Zim's last argument stronger. "Never mind," He said, "It's nothing. I was just saying stupid stuff."

"OK," Zim said.

Dib wondered for a second whether Zim believed him when he said it was nothing, or whether Zim was just dropping it because he didn't want to deal with it. Dib pretended to watch Zim's driving with interest, but after days of watching him, it lost the interest. But it beat filling the silence with meaningless words.

The next few hours were filled with silence as Dib tried to pick out which tiny dot in the distance was their destination. He eventually decided that a small purple looking speck in the middle of the shield was where they were going, but he changed his mind when he realized it was a small piece of rock that had lodged itself into the material.

"So, you're still not going to tell me where we're going?" Dib asked, getting bored again.

"Nope," Zim said to Dib's expectation. There wasn't a single time that question worked. "But I know you'll love it."

"You keep saying that," Dib grumbled to himself, "So why did you pick this mysterious place that I'd like?" He asked. Dib hadn't asked Zim that question yet.

"I have some friends who live there. I thought you'd like to meet them."

Dib almost did a double take at that comment. "You have friends?"

"What? You think Zim would be friendless like you?"

"I'm not friendless!" Dib yelled.

"You not? Name one besides those 'friends' who pushed you away at the first sign of trouble. Family doesn't count."

"Well..." Dib said, trying to think, "I have..."

"You were an outcast. You didn't have any friends. Even I, Zim, could make more human friends than you did."

"You're an outcast too. They hated you just as much," Dib said, trying to save his pride, but he could tell that was a loosing battle. He knew he never had any friends, but it didn't matter. But it still hurt having someone call him on it.

"Even if they hated Zim, they still listened to me," Zim said, "They even stopped acknowledging your existence after a certain while."

"Yeah well... You're a creepy looking alien!" Dib shouted, angry at himself for loosing to Zim.

To avoid facing anymore humiliation and frustration, Dib stormed out of the control room and into his bedroom. He knew it was childish, but it was just about the only retort he had left in his book. He couldn't even get the exit right because he pushed too hard on his seat and ended up nearly flying past the door.

He leaned against the wall in a huff. He hated that Zim was right. No one even acknowledged him. Zim, his sister, and on the very odd occasion, his father, where the only ones who even spoke to him. And only Zim ever made eye contact for the past few years. Maybe he was some pity case. Someone not deserving of anything but pity, who deserved to be looked down upon. All he had was Zim. His sister was rarely any help, his father was part of the problem, most people won't even look or talk to him, and the only human beings in the universe who actually gave a few hours of their time to care, threw him away just as quickly. He really was the lowest of the low.

Dib pushed down so that he could sit on the floor in the corner of his room. He hoped Zim wouldn't come in. The last thing he needed was for Zim to see how much he had gotten to him. Dib didn't want Zim to know how right he was about Dib, and that Dib really was more of an outcast to his species than Zim. Zim might have his species want to kill him, but Zim still had a few friends. Dib had nothing.

He could hear Zim just outside his door. He tried to get into a more dignified pose rather than the nearly sobbing mess in the corner of the room he was in now. He tried to get to the bed, but he moved so hastily that he over shot it. Luckily Zim didn't seem to want to go into the room. He just passed by, muttering something or other.

Dib felt a little relieved, but he could hear Zim coming back again. Maybe Zim just overshot the door again. Dib managed to pull himself into a stable floating position on the bed. And waited for Zim to open the door, but instead he could her some other door being opened and closing. He waited for a few moments more, and he could hear the same thing again. Zim was still muttering something, but he was saying it so quickly that Dib couldn't make it out.

Soon he could hear a door open and close again. Dib tried to guess where it was coming from, but he couldn't place it. After a few long minutes of waiting there was still quiet. Dib sat up, making him fly in circles a little bit, as he realized that things were too quiet. Even when all Zim did was drive, every so often he would curse at a piece of rock that came close. Quiet Zim worried Dib.

Dib flew over to the door. He needed to check up on Zim. Hopefully Zim was just still flying the ship and was quiet because he felt bad. Sometimes Zim would go quiet for a little while when he felt bad. Dib looked outside the hall in case Zim was just standing outside, waiting for Dib to come out, but the hall was empty, and things were still too quiet. Dib was starting to panic a little. What was Zim doing that was so quiet?


	22. Chapter 22

_Sorry for the delay, midterms and all._

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><p>Dib floats down towards the control room. Maybe Zim was focused on driving so much that he didn't speak, and they were in a very bare area of the universe. Maybe Dib hadn't given Zim enough time to start yelling at something. He peaked into the room.<p>

It was empty. The only thing that seemed alive in the room was the computer driving the ship. Dib was starting to feel a little more worried. Even though the computer piloted the ship better than Zim, Zim wasn't the one to trust the computer. Zim kept insisting on doing it all himself.

Dib hurried into the kitchen in case Zim was just hungry, which might explain all the grumbling and moving around. He crashed into the fridge, but once he got his baring, he couldn't find Zim. Dib was starting to get more worried. It wasn't like Zim to just disappear like this, especially not for this long.

He checked the lab, hoping Zim was just distracted by something. He cracked open the door a little, the lights were on, but they were very dim. He opened the door a little more, hoping that Zim was just out of sight. He floated into the room just enough to see everything. Empty. The room was empty.

Dib only had two places left that he hadn't checked. The cargo hold, and the bathroom. There was no reason Zim would be in either spot. There was nothing down there, and Irkens had no need for bathrooms, at least that's what Zim made sure Dib knew. Dib tried to think of any reason Zim would still even be on this ship, but he decided it was stupid, there was nothing for light-years, so Zim had no reason to just leave. Didn't he?

Dib chose to check the bathroom first. It was the closest, and slightly more likely than the cargo hold. He couldn't hear anything from inside of it, which wasn't promising, but his mind kept going through the worse case scenarios. One being that the water started filling up the room, and Zim was hurt, too hurt to escape.

He pushed the button to open the door, half expecting the door to be jammed, but it opened just like the other doors. It was dark in there. For a while it seemed like there was nothing of interest in the bathroom. But as his eyes adjusted to the light, he noticed a lump on the floor that wasn't there before.

Dib moved so quickly to reach Zim that he crashed into the other wall. A little bruised, Dib pulled himself over to Zim. He gently set a hand on Zim's shoulder and tried to see what was wrong. Zim was cool. he wasn't cold yet, but most of the warmth felt like it was gone from his body. As Dib's eyes adjusted to the dark, his own blood went cold.

There was a pool of green blood under Zim's head, and his pak sat on the floor on the other side of the room. Dib pulled Zim up into his arms, shaking Zim as if it would bring him back to life. Zim just moved limply in Dib's arms. Holding Zim close to his chest, Dib hurried across the bathroom, and grabbed Zim's pak.

Dib pushed the small device onto Zim's back. It had to take. It had to. Even if Zim was dead, he can bring him back. The pak held everything that was Zim, all he needed to do was put it back on the body. It couldn't be too late.

Nothing was happening. The pak was silent and Zim was still as Dib just about began trying to beat Zim's pak back into place. He could see the two holes that the pak attached to, but he didn't know how it was triggered. Dib pushed harder against the pak, hoping to ignite some sort of spark, but everything was dead.

A sob caught in Dib's throat. What if Zim was really dead? He tried harder, almost as if he was trying to screw Zim's pak back into place. Still nothing. It felt like he had been trying for hours, with no results.

He was running out of options. He gave the pak a smack, hoping that would work. He doubted advanced alien technology would simply work because of brute force, but he couldn't think of anything else that he could do.

There were a few clicks that came from Zim's pak, and everything slowly started to sound like it was charging up. Dib let go of Zim's pak, and it stayed in place. He touched it to make sure, and it was warm. The pak was working again, but Zim didn't show any signs that fixing the pak made a difference.

Dib watched over Zim, waiting for him to wake up. He didn't know what he should do. He did remember the stupid first aid courses the school made everyone take after one of the kids nearly choked to death, but he wasn't sure if it would do any good. The pak kept charging up.

A shock went through Zim's body, and into Dib. Dib knew he should just let go of Zim and let the pak do its job and fix Zim, but he couldn't even if he wanted to, and he didn't want to. Dib could feel Zim's body stiffen as the pak shocked every part of Zim's body. He held Zim closer, feeling his own heart beat erratically from the electric shocks.

A few moments later, and Zim went limp in Dib's arms again. Dib watched, waiting for Zim to wake up, but it was like he was dead again. The pak was still working, but what if it was too late. Dib set his forehead onto Zim's. He held back his tears. He knew he was alone, but he didn't want to cry, as much as the back of his throat ached.

It wasn't fair. Zim was his alien, the only thing he chased. They both have been through so many near deaths that Dib wouldn't believe Zim was dead if he wasn't holding Zim's body. It wasn't fair for Zim to just leave Dib, all alone in the middle of space, far from a home that doesn't even want him. Dib wasn't going to cry, he just held Zim close.

Zim felt warm against his chest. It might have been the shock cooked Zim's flesh, or Dib managed to warm him up. Dib set a hand on Zim's chest. It was warmer than before. Dib set Zim down and put an ear against his chest. He could hear something that almost sounded like a heart beat. He hugged Zim in joy that he was alive.

He tried to wake Zim up, but Zim was still deep in unconsciousness. His eyes even stayed closed. It was weird seeing Zim's eyelids for so long. He always had his eyes open, to see him with his eyes closed like he was sleeping almost made Zim look like a child.

Dib cradled Zim in his arms as he got up. Zim just needed some time to get better. Maybe if he slept it off for a bit, he'll get better. Dib carried Zim back to the bedroom as carefully as possible. He set him on the bed and sat down next to him.

Dib smiled slightly. He felt exhausted after going through all that panic, but a calming relief had finally took its place. He watched Zim, waiting for him to wake up. Zim wasn't the sort of person who could just sleep long, even if he was this injured, he always came fight back. It probably had something to do with being an Irken. He should be awake in no time.

Dib watched Zim closely for the next few hours. From time to time Zim would groan in a way that only someone who never took his eyes off of him would hear. Dib tried to do something to make Zim feel better, but it felt like everything he tried made things worse.

Dib managed to hack into the ship's computer and access the information files. He needed to know what to do. He spent years trying to stop Zim and figure out all of his weaknesses, but now he has no idea where to start.

Zim didn't transfer the base's AI onto the ship because it took up too much power, which was why it was easy to break into the information files, but now there was no one to help translate the pages upon pages of Irken, or even give him a hint on where he should start.

After slowly translating all the files, Dib barely had the patience to look deeper. Zim was probably going to die by the time he figures this all out. Dib smacked his head against the keyboard. He was never going to get anything right. He looked back to Zim, who was still unconscious, although it looked like he was starting to move.

Dib had a feeling that this whole thing was somehow his fault. He hit his head on the keyboard again, this time leaving dents in his skin in the shape of the buttons. Why did he have to get so angry at Zim for just stating the obvious? It wasn't a secret that he had no friends, and that he never really did. Zim was just telling the truth, and then something happened to Zim after Dib got angry. Dib was sure this was his fault somehow. He was always the weirdo who messed things up.

Dib let himself fall back off his chair like he would do when he was younger and too tired to walk the few feet back to bed. If things weren't so bad, he'd be laughing to himself about how fun zero gravity was, but he could only think about how much a pain it was that he couldn't even fall right anymore.

He slowly floated back over to the bed, and eventually forced himself to sit down. He watched Zim. Why wouldn't Zim just wake up. He's been asleep for too long. What if he never woke up? What if he was dead for so long that the only thing alive about him are a few struggling life signs that are kept going by the pak. He knew Zim was probably in there somewhere, but he wouldn't wake up.

Zim started moving a little more. Dib's heart would start to race and his hopes would rise whenever this happened, but it always ended with the disappointment of Zim going still again. Dib tried to hold onto the fact that he was moving a little more each time, but he couldn't keep himself optimistic. Dib kept thinking about what his father would say every time he ended up in the hospital or almost destroyed the city, which was usually Zim's fault, "I knew you were going to fail."

In the middle of his self pity, Dib could hear something coming from Zim. For a while he thought it was just one of those reflexive sounds, like the small movements. Just something like someone would do in their sleep. It just sounded like a small moan. Dib set his hand on Zim's head and gently stroked the delicate antenna, which instinctively twitched at his touch. They felt soft, sort of like a piece of willow, smooth, yet solid. Dib imagined that Zim could feel this through all the sleep, and knew what was going on.

Zim made the sound again, and Dib grabbed at the blanket, his hands clenched as he waited for something else. Something to tell him that it wasn't completely hopeless. Zim's eye lids were starting to twitch as well. Dib grabbed Zim's hand, softly telling him to wake up. Zim's eyes cracked just a little, and looked around. They suddenly flew open, and Zim moved faster than Dib could even see. Soon Zim was right in his face, eyes narrowed and angry. Dib felt something around his neck. He couldn't breath.


	23. Chapter 23

Dib tried to calm Zim down, but his throat was squeezed closed between Zim's fingers. Dib helplessly clawed at Zim's hands, trying to pry them off his neck, but it was like trying to move stone. The edges of Dib's vision were starting to narrow into a white lined black. He could feel he was loosing strength in his fingers like they were going numb.

It felt as if his head was about to burst. That Zim was going to squeeze his neck until his skull pops, decorating the room with floating bits of brain matter. Dib could barely see anymore. The only thing in his vision was a tiny, blurred hole, with Zim's angry face right in the middle of it. Dib grabbed onto Zim's wrist in an attempt to pull Zim's hands away, but he could feel his fingers slipping away.

Just as he was seconds from passing out, Zim let go of his neck. Dib gasped in the biggest breath of air he could. It was cold, but a little soothing, but once it re-inflated the part of his neck that it felt Zim collapsed, his throat hurt like Zim's claws were still on it. He coughed, trying to clear up his throat.

"Zim," Dib said with a croaking sound to his voice, his neck burned as he tried to speak, "Why?"

"Sorry, it's a force of habit. For a second I forgot where I was."

Dib wanted to tell Zim that it was a weak excuse, but then he remembered what Zim was trained to be. A soldier, a spy for his empire. They probably did things to him all the time. Dib wouldn't be surprised to hear all the horror stories about Irken training. He's heard bad things about the armies back home, and they weren't even out to concur the universe. They just wanted to train soldiers because it sounded cool.

Dib just nodded his head to let Zim know he understood. He couldn't imagine what Zim was thinking when he woke up, but if it was enough to strangle the first thing he saw, Dib wasn't sure he even wanted to know. Dib rubbed his throat, trying to get everything working again. It still hurt like hell, but it was starting to feel better.

"What happened to you?" He asked.

"What are you talking about," Zim said, like everything in the past few hours didn't even happen.

"I found you on the floor with your pak on the other side of the bathroom! What happened?" Dib reached for Zim's hand, but Zim moved it away from Dib's reach, tightening his fingers.

"It was nothing. I fell."

"And that knocked off your pak? I've seen you get hit by a lot of things, but I've only seen you loose your pak twice."

"It was a big fall," Zim said, looking everywhere but at Dib. Zim didn't even seem to be able to see Dib in his peripheral. He was mostly focused on the opposite wall. "Dib, I'm fine."

"You nearly died. I thought you did die! How could you be fine after that?"

"It's what I'm good at. I think I'm going to start driving again. There's no telling how far off course the autopilot has taken us." Zim pushed off the bed, and quickly left the room, not even giving Dib another glance.

Dib swallowed a lump in his throat that was not caused by his recent strangulation. He tried to follow Zim, but he was much clumsier at moving through the ship than Zim, and all his crashes made him slower. Zim was already sitting in the pilot seat when Dib managed to catch up. Zim pretended not to see Dib as he focused on driving the ship, through a small asteroid field, hitting twice as many rocks than the autopilot, and most of them big ones.

Dib sat down next to Zim in the co-pilot seat and watched him drive. He tried to talk, but he felt a coldness from Zim that froze his voice. Dib just closed his mouth and watched as the asteroids kept coming at them. Sometimes denting parts of the ship, which instantly self-repaired.

After a few semi-exciting moments of nearly being smashed like bugs on a windshield by some of the larger asteroids, they managed to reach empty space again. They looked much closer to another solar system as something that might be a planet started to come into view, but it still looked too far off for Dib to tell the difference between a close up space debris, or a distant planet.

"I'm sorry," Zim said quickly as if to get everything over with as painlessly as possible.

"It's OK. It takes more than that to get rid of me."

"I know. I've tried."

"Yeah," Dib said, softly chuckling at some of the stranger memories, like a room with a nut eating moose. "So, what really happened?"

Zim quickly looked at Zim, then looked back to the space in front of him, "I don't want to talk about it. It's nothing."

"Nearly dying is nothing?"

"Yes. The same as whatever your father did beyond just locking you in that tiny cell is nothing. It's all nothing."

"Right," Dib said, staring forward.

Dib thought about pressing it a little further, but he wasn't ready to relive what his father did. Zim wouldn't let Dib know about what happened in the bathroom without making Dib talk about something he didn't want to talk about. If Zim didn't want to talk about it, it must be for an important reason. Just like Dib had his reasons for not talking about what his father did.

Dib watched as the speck got closer and closer. They were almost close enough that he could pinpoint the star it orbited around. Not enough to get any details, but it was another planet. Even as a speck it looked amazing. It felt like no matter how often Dib saw other planets, it never ceased to take his breath away.

A part of him wanted to ask if they were there yet, this time seriously, but after all the teasing, it was probably not the best idea. Dib settled for just watching the only planet he's seen in days get closer. He tried asking more than a few times, but he just kept his mouth shut until Zim suddenly has to react to something. The ship dives down suddenly as another space ship that was probably twice their size zoomed over them.

"What was that!" Dib yelled out, instinctively ducking down as he saw the other space ship.

"Those would by those friends I mentioned earlier."

Dib stared at Zim, "So that means..."

"Yup. We're there yet."

Zim piloted their ship next to the larger one and a collection of thick wires shot out of the other ship and pulled them closer. There was a symphony of mechanical sounds as they two ships seemed to grind together, and then everything stopped and was silent. Zim hopped out of his seat and Dib followed him down into the elevator to the bottom of the ship.

Dib looked around but there was no one down here. There didn't even seem to be anything changed except for a small hole in one of the walls. There were no signs of life anywhere. It was starting to make Dib a little anxious. He needed to know what was happening.

"Zim, what's going on?"

"We need someone to bring us to the planet, and these guys are the only ones who will do it."

"So, am I going to meet them?"

"They're already here," Zim said, gesturing to the entire room.

Dib looked around, but he couldn't see anyone. He tried checking the floor in case they were just so small that he didn't notice them at first, but the entire room was still empty. Dib tried as hard as he could, but he couldn't see them.

Dib was about to ask Zim, but as the first word in his question hung in the air, Zim said, "They're invisible."

Dib almost rolled his eyes at that. It almost sounded like a weak lie for why they didn't come, but Dib knew cloaking was possible. Maybe they just didn't want to show themselves. Maybe they were shy.

"Don't fear," Zim told the invisible aliens, "Dib is merely a human, hardly any threat."

"We are aware of that, young one. We've seen his kind before and know they are harmless for now," A disembodied voice said. It had a noble sound to it. Not like the arrogant tone the Irkens take, or those stupid aliens what kept abducting people. "It is you we are worried about. We have record that you are living on the distant planet Earth. Why have you decided to come here?"

"Now of all times," A second voice added, slightly higher pitched than the first one, but still very calm and noble sounding.

"We needed a break. Besides, Dib here has hardly been off his own planet. I felt it was my duty to show him as many other worlds as possible. I'm just here to catch up with some old friends."

"The many violations of taking a Class 4 intelligence off their home planet aside, now is not the best time, young one. The Yulom have doubled their forces against us. We don't have the time for helping you 'sight see.'"

"What are these Yulom," Zim asked, pointing a finger at what is to be assumed the direction of the invisible aliens, "Zim has never heard of Yulom!"

"Perhaps by another name you do. We have been fighting them since the beginning of time, and we fear the Yulom have begun to panic," The first one said.

"They're gathering new forces. Forces I fear might overwhelm us one day," The second one said.

"Zim doesn't care about your war. It doesn't involve us. Take us to your planet!" Zim demanded.

"I'm sorry young one. But there is something much more necessary you need to perform on Earth."

"If you are successful, it means our war is closer to being won, and..."

"What does this have to do with Zim!" Zim interrupted.

"You will be able to enjoy a visit whenever it suits you," The second one finished as if Zim never interrupted.

"But for now, we'll allow you to refuel so that you can return to Earth," The first one said again.

"What if I don't want to go back to Earth?" Dib asked.

"That's a shame, young one, to be so afraid of your own home, but your home is in danger. Your friends are only the very front lines of a war that threatens to sweep everyone up in in a cloud of destruction."

"My friends?" Dib asked. Zim's the only one who's ever been anything close to a friend. There were those kids in New York, but he had trouble believing they were acting in any sort of war.

"You'll be surprised at how engrained the Yulom's tentacles are in your world. Now you should hurry up, young ones, the time might seem long to you, but it is running out."

The hole in the wall closed up, and Dib waited for something else, but it was quiet. "Who were those guys?"

"Their called Yulza. And they think they're so high and mighty that they don't even show themselves. They were on the Irken list of planets to be invaded, but they said if I helped them, then I would be on the path to being loved by the entire universe, and if I didn't, I would still be as hated. They say that they can see the future and all possible outcomes."

"Who says that?"

"Lots of species. And so far, they haven't been wrong."

"So, Earth's really in danger from something else..." Dib said, "What are we going to do?"

Zim grabbed Dib's hand. Dib startled at the sudden touch after meeting the invisible aliens. He looked down and saw Zim grinning like his old insane self. Dib grabbed onto Zim's hand and smiling back. He knew what they were going to do, a good old fashioned fight for Earth. He hadn't had a serious threat against the Earth in years. Dib was getting excited at the thought of fighting an alien menace that threatens his home, and it looked like Zim was just as excited to have something to destroy.


	24. Chapter 24

The refueling station was actually one of the moons that orbited the planet. They were close enough that Dib could get a good view of it. Most of it was a yellowish orange with purple and red clouds scattered all around its atmosphere, just like how it is on Earth. Only, this planet didn't have oceans that he could see. Just a sort of yellowish orange looking surface dotted with lights on the parts were the light from the star didn't hit.

Still, it was amazing. It was like whenever he got the chance to look down on Earth. In a way it sort of did look like Earth with a different colour scheme, but that might just be the way the clouds swirled around the planet in a slow dance. There was just something amazing about seeing a planet from so high up that gave it an almost unreal appearance to it.

Zim was getting anxious to get going, getting into fights with everyone he met. It didn't help that most of the being working there didn't like the fact that he was Irken, even if he was on their side now. Not that Dib was surprised. It took a certain kind of person to deal with Zim, usually a kind of person with endless patience and an inability to give up. He's had years of practice dealing with Zim, something most people couldn't say.

Dib had to pull Zim away from the poor, frightened pump attendant, who was just trying to do his job. Zim eventually just stormed off down the street. Dib took a few steps to follow him, but he could tell from the way that Zim stomped through the crowd, yelling at the Yulza who he bumped into, that he should just wait for Zim to cool down.

Dib went back onto the ship and sat down on the couch, looking through all the alien channels. It kind of felt nice to have gravity again. One needed gravity to really understand how comfortable that couch was. Dib sprawled out on the couch, flipping through the channels. Zim would come back with he was ready. As he was about to settle on this weird alien show that almost looked like a version of a Japanese game show, only with weirder events, an alien suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Dib looked around to see if it was alone, but as far as he could see, nothing else snuck on, which wasn't very convincing. He looked back at it. It kind of looked female. It had long, thin legs that were almost toothpicks, and arms that were almost the same. It didn't appear to have any hands, or even a face. The face looked like it might just be covered in some sort of mask, but it looked like the hands might have just been snapped off the twig like limb.

"Who are you?" Dib asked the most obvious question.

"We call me Yollow." It said in the noble voice he heard from the Yulza earlier. In fact, it sounded like the second one. "And we wish to talk to you young one." It sat down on the couch beside him.

"Me?"

"Yes. You see, you are very special among your species, you seem to have a way of changing things. Like that Irken. He was greedy and selfish, even in comparison to his species. So self-centered and destructive was he, that he was cast out of his own race for they feared his destructive talents would destroy their own plans of destruction."

"That's a lot of destruction."

"Yes. And yet, here we are. Here you are, with an Irken who has feelings of care towards you, an Irken who wants to prevent the destruction of your planet. And from what we've seen, it's all because of you. You change things, it's a talent of your family. It was your father's talent, and your sister's talent, but you are the first we've seen to be able to use it."

"My father and my sister? I think you're confused. My father doesn't change anything, he just keeps creating the same stuff over and over again. And my sister, she just doesn't care. She doesn't even take her nose out of those video games. And maybe I did change Zim somehow, but what does this have to do with anything other than some observation you seem to have?"

"Ah, to be so young and from a species barely aware of the greater meanings. So quick to assume what is and isn't important. But you should listen to us young one, change is what the Yulom fear the most. It's change that fuels their need to destroy the Universe and rebuild it in a way so it will stay the same forever. No new knowledge, no change. We have seen what this future holds, and it means the death of every species in the Universe. Life needs to change to survive, and it's our mission to make sure Life keeps going for as long as fate will allow. But to do that, we need your ability to change things."

"What about Zim? You were the ones talking to him about all this fighting the Yulom. Why are you coming to me behind his back like this? I know Irkens are jerks, but you said it yourself that Zim's different, and that I've changed him somehow."

"True, he might be different from other Irkens, and even more so now that he's met you, but he's still an Irken. His pack holds all the Irken beliefs and instincts. He will always be Irken, no matter how different your influence can make him."

"That's not true. Well, sort of, but he's not a bad guy. You guys said yourselves that he would become a hero."

"Dib, young one," His name had an echo to it. None of the other words the Yulza said echoed, but it almost sounded like it was suddenly spoken in an canyon. "There is so much you end up doing for this world. You care so much about things that others wouldn't bother thinking about. You are a marvelous being who can change so much. But we have to warn you that it's these attributes that make you susceptible to the Yulom, and they will try to change you so that you can never change again. The Yulom's reach is long, even affecting the Irken empire, and they're trying to recruit humanity for it's next attacks. Zim still has some of the Yulom's technology in his pak, and we fear that no matter how much you're change affects him, you will never clean out everything the Yulom has done."

"Why are you telling me all of this? What's the point in saying that I'm the savior of the universe or something but the one person in that universe that I care about in the slightest is going to betray me? What's the point in telling me all of this."

"We're telling you so it will ease the pain when it happens. Any creature in existence won't think clearly when they are in pain, and it will be painful. We don't know when it will happen, but we can see clearly a vision of Zim attacking you with a weapon, aimed to kill."

"Thanks for the warning," Dib said, half sarcastic, "I'm going to find Zim and we're out of here."

"Good luck, young one," It said, before going invisible again.

"Yeah, sure." Dib shrugged, jogging his way back to the station.

He ran in the direction he was sure Zim was. Not really watching where he was going except to look out for any signs of Zim. Anyone who looked Irken, some place that Zim might have been interested in, or maybe even a fight that had broken out when Zim pissed someone off. Anything that could be a sign that Zim was near by.

He began to worry he took a wrong turn, or missed a turn he should have taken, when he reached the edge of the dome that made up the moon station. The silver dust was reminiscent of Earth's moon, but that wasn't the interest now. Now was the time to find Zim and get home before some odd and mysterious race destroys his home, as told by another odd and mysterious race.

Dib started running in the other direction, hoping that he just missed Zim by a little bit. He was already breathing heavily, and his throat started to burn as he struggled to keep going. He started making plans to work out a little more. He's probably run further and faster than he ever has thanks to the fact that his arms and legs aren't made of bone and muscle, but he still was able to become exhausted. Dib started walking down the street by the time he was halfway back, and still hadn't found Zim.

"What are you talking about? Zim's the hero that delays the Irken agenda!"

Dib rolled his eyes. He's found Zim. Looking around, he realized it was all too easy to find Zim. All he had to do was follow the crowd of people that were starting to gather in front of one of the buildings. It was just like he was back at Skool. Whenever a fight seemed to be brewing, everyone would gather around to get a look at the bloodshed. Although, back home it was the kids hoping to get a look if Zim killed Dib. Dib had a good idea of who they wanted to see get beat up this time.

As Dib got close to the entrance, having to elbow a few aliens out of the way, he could hear the commotion. He didn't understand anything that was being said, if anything other than loud noises was being said, but they sounded angry to him. Sort of like the sound of a rhino that was about to charge.

"Lies! Zim is amazing. You can't deny that."

"You're just pathetic scared little creatures that you lie about Zim to feel safer. But Zim is great!"

Dib tried to push in further. Whatever was going on, Dib could at least tell that Zim was starting a fight. He needed to get through the crowd now to try and pull Zim away. The last thing they needed was to burn their bridges. If half of what the Yulza said was true, then they shouldn't be starting fights. Dib was almost at the front of the crowd when he got stuck behind this really big and fat lizard looking alien. The crowd shifted, and he ended up crashing into its back. It's head turned around in a 360 like an owl and it stared at him, hissing in a deep rattling voice.

"Hey, that's my human!"

Zim sounded close. The big lizard alien started to open its jaw and a thick, barbed tongue rolled out. It whipped at Dib. Dib flinched and lifted his arms to protect himself. The tongue wrapped around his right arm and he was pulled forward so harshly, that Dib was sure he dislocated something.

Zim jumped to Dib's side growling at the lizard alien. Dib looked up and saw that there was more than one of them. The one he bumped into was only the most right of a trio of them. All snarling and grunting at Zim.

"You made the biggest mistake you'll ever make." All the arrogance had gone from Zim's voice. Dib tried to think of a time he had heard Zim this serious, but he had never heard Zim like this. There was a dark, scary tone in his voice that sent shivers down Dib's spine. "You can attack me all you want. Zim can take insults. But if you try to hurt someone I love… That's unforgivable."

Zim tensed up as he spoke, and once he was finished, he leaped at the lizard alien that had thrown Dib across the room. Dib got up as middle lizard opened its mouth to help its buddy. Dib tightened his fist and launched himself at the jaw of the middle alien. He sort of expected a crack, but the sloshing sound like a water balloon bursting felt just as satisfying. The alien backed up, screaming as it fell over, holding its jaw with both hands.

The third one stared at its buddy, then back at Dib, and snarled. It ran at Dib with its barbed tongue out, like it was going to strangle him with it. Dib dropped down just as it was close enough and put out his leg, tripping it. The alien flew forward into the one that threw Dib. Zim barely jumped out of the way as the two collided.

The one that had attacked Dib screamed in a terrifying wail, before the sound died down and it stopped moving. The one remaining alien scrambled up from his buddy. Its tongue was still hanging out as it looked at the still one, then back to the other one, who was still clutching its jaw in agony, then it stared at Dib and Zim, who were still ready to fight. It grabbed the first one and the second one and ran out the door, carrying them both.

Dib and Zim stared at each other for a little while during the short moment of dead silence that followed the aliens' quick retreat, and then they burst into laughter. Dib hugged Zim in a quick tight squeeze before punching him in the face.

"You idiot. Why are you starting fights?"

Zim slapped Dib in response. "They only started fighting when you got here. Things would have been fine if you hadn't shown up." Zim slapped Dib again.

"Ow, What was that for?"

"That was for throwing that Juoloq at me! Those tongues are deadly!"

"How was I supposed to know that? I didn't even know you were behind me when I tripped him."

"Her. And you could have been a little more aware of things. How could you forget that Zim was behind you?"

"You know what Zim?"

"What?"

Dib smiled, "Let's go home."

"Fine."


	25. Chapter 25

"You know, you were pretty bad ass back there. That look in your eyes when he threw me was amazing."

"You know, weren't too bad yourself, Dib. You managed to take on two of them, and you still won. Even if you were stupid enough to nearly get me killed while you fought."

"Two? I took down all three of them. I broke the first one's jaw, and then I took down the one you were fighting when the one I tripped crashed into him."

"Fine, Dib. If it will make you feel better, you took on three Juoloq single-handedly, and walked out with hardly a bruise."

"Damn right. And when we get back home, we'll show those Yulom you don't mess with Earth."

"No, Earth is very easy to mess with. It's the one human who's suborn enough to keep fighting that's something to worry about."

"Yeah..."

"You know, we should do this again sometime."

"Starting bar fights?"

"It was fun."

"It was."

Word of the fight must have traveled fast. Every alien they passed by was looking and talking. Zim seemed to have a bit of extra march in his step as everyone was staring. Dib didn't quite like that they were probably talking about how they won a bar fight. But those lizards started it, even if Zim was the one who pissed them off.

He hoped no one really held it against them. A part of him still wanted

"Hey Zim... before I went looking for you. I saw one of the Yulza."

"You mean it spoke to you without Zim present?"

"Not just spoke, but it was visible. I actually saw it. And it talked to me about how I should save Earth, that I was their only hope and all that stuff. It also said I changed you. Yeah right. I've tried changing people's minds for years, trying to get them to see the truth, and not one of them looked another way. And they say I changed you?"

"But you did. Zim would probably still be destroying things if it wasn't for you. I bet I would have already destroyed Earth if it wasn't for you. But you were different, something about you made me stop. All the humans were stupid cattle waiting to be slaughtered, but you were something else."

Dib laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. You're something else too. The only Irken to feel love. That's definitely something else."

Zim gave three forced laughs. "It is. Come on, we should hurry up. Earth's in trouble from alien forces, as usual."

Dib's smile dropped to a fake half smile. "Yeah, I can't wait."

Zim started to pick up the pace while Dib started to slow down. A part of him still wanted to see Earth again. No matter what, it was his home, were he was born, where he grew up, the only place in the universe he knows, but he also knows that his father was down there somewhere. That the planet was inhabited with billions of people who either hate him, don't care, or want him for their own gain. No one really wanted him, not even his family. Out in space, he's met an alien who cares. Creatures who don't think he's just crazy, but someone who can make a difference without having to be changed. They still just wanted him for their own gain, but...

Dib noticed a poster stuck to the wall of one of the buildings. He didn't know the writing, but strangely, there was something that he could recognize on it. It was one of those square QR codes that were on every advertisement and item in the world. They were used so phones and scanners could read them, but why would one be here? This one had a red X through it, but he couldn't figure out what it meant. Those things were created for human technology, he couldn't see a reason why they would be here, on this alien station, light years away from Earth.

"Zim? What's with this poster?"

Zim was almost too far ahead to hear Dib. Dib waited as Zim had to push his way back through the crowd to look at the poster Dib was talking about. Dib stared at it. It felt like some sort of dark omen, something to warn him about something. Zim looked over the poster quickly.

"It's just a propaganda poster against Irkens."

"Then what's with the QR code being crossed out like that?"

"There's no code in there! It's the symbol of the Big Brains. It represents Irken society."

"Zim, I think we need to hurry back quickly."

"Why? It's just a poster."

"Those aren't just the symbols for the Irken Big Brains. It's all over Earth as well."

Dib was ready to leave, but Zim just stared at the symbol closer, trying to see if there was anything different about it.

"I don't see anything human about it."

"The Yulza said that the Yulom had infiltrated Earth. If what I'm suspecting is right, then this is the sign of the Yulom, and the Yulom already have full control of Earth."

"But that's stupid. If that's true, then that would mean Irk has been taken over as well."

Dib grabbed Zim's hand and began to try and pull him along, but Zim stood still. "That's exactly what I'm saying. We can help the Irkens later, but for now we have to get home."

"But... Why would I be banished to a place that the Big Brains already had control over?"

"Maybe no one but the Yulom and Yulza knew. Now come on. Who knows what they have planned for Earth."

"But, I'm not a bad guy. Am I? I know I wanted to make my tallest proud. Prove that my memories deserved to join the ranks of the elite."

"You're not anymore. You're not a pawn of the Yulom anymore, no matter what the Yulza said. I changed you and now we're going to change the world, maybe the universe and become heroes and loved forever and ever. But we have to get moving."

"Do you mean it?"

"Of course I do. You're awesome Zim. I've seen you do amazing things that I probably couldn't have even thought of. Together, we might stand a chance at making things right, on Earth, and if you want, Irk as well."

"Zim is awesome."

The enthusiasm wasn't fully there as he said it. He smiled a little, but beyond that, it looked a little sad. He looked like all the energy has been sucked out of him. Dib stopped trying to pull Zim back to the ship, and instead he wrapped his arms around him. Zim gasped as Dib squeezed him close.

"You are. You are the most awesome person I've ever met, and I don't know where I'd be if you hadn't come into my life. I don't care who's invading what, I just care that you're here."

Zim returned the hug. "I know. Come on, I don't want to be on this moon anymore. Let's find someplace better."

"Sounds like a plan."

With hands held, they started running through the crowds, from time to time clothes lining some smaller aliens who didn't get out of the way. Even though they were probably taking down about a dozen aliens who didn't even see them coming, Dib didn't want to let go of Zim's hand. The thought of letting go of Zim's hand barely could barely even occur to him.

Zim's hand felt hard underneath his glove. It was like a tree branch covered in silk. Zim's fingers fit through Dib's like a puzzle piece that had found its partner. Partner, his whole life he would have almost killed to hear that word. It seemed to fit now. Partner. The word made Dib smile as they ran through the crowd. Not even the cute, fuzzy little aliens they hurt could remove the grin that had formed on Dib's face.

As they ran, Dib kept seeing Zim out of the corner of his eye, looking just as excited as Dib was. Every now and then, Dib could see Zim looking back at him, and in those moments, it felt as if time slowed down. As fast as they were going, it felt like it was taking too long. Quick glaces lasted for hours, and the time in between those glaces was days long.

Dib was now running, only staring at Zim, taking in the electric shivers that ran down his spine as he stared at his alien partner. They were the same feelings he had when he first confronted Zim, and every confrontation after for years. Now as they ran, it was all he could feel, like a pulse went through Zim's hand and into Dib.

Their ship appeared from behind all the buildings. The small alien gas attendants, or whatever they were called out here, were working on cleaning up the outside of the ship. It was now sparkling. It looked more new than when Dib had first seen it. Dib and Zim hurried up, probably knocking over a few more of those small, fuzzy aliens they seemed to be taking out every time they moved, and reached the ship.

The aliens working on the ship jabbered at them, but Dib couldn't figure out what they were getting so upset about. They were probably worried that Dib and Zim were going to mess things up. It looked like they had even cleaned inside the ship as well. It seemed as if the very thin layer of dust that coated the floor to the storage room was gone. Even the carpets in the upper part of the ship looked like they had been cleaned.

Dib and Zim went to the control room and sat down in their seats. Zim started up the ship, and it roared to life. The aliens were scrambling off, nearly jumping to the ground to get off of it. Zim seemed to be searching through something, as the ship began to charge up in preparation for lift off.

"Good, the ship's properly charged. I was worried they wouldn't give us enough power to get anywhere good."

He closed off those menus and went back to launching the ship. The small aliens were waving as the ship's engines created more power. The ship jumped up, and then slowly rose above the station. Dib could still see those small gas station aliens waving as they left. They were even beginning to jump up.

As Dib watched them a little more, it didn't look so much like they were waving goodbye. Some shaking their fists. He could see their mouths moving, as if they were saying anything, but in the ship they couldn't hear them.

"They kind of look angry," Dib said.

"Of course they are."

"What were they saying back there?"

"Well, Zim's ability to understand their language is limited, but I believe it went somewhere along the lines of 'You've got to pay for that fuel!'"

"Wait, we're stealing gas?"

"If you want to call it stealing. I like to think of it as an advanced payment for saving the universe."

The ship turns around as Zim sets their course for Earth. Dib leaned back before the force of the ship's take off pressed him against his seat. Zim was laughing like a maniac. The force died down to weightlessness and Dib floated in his seat as Zim started to set the ship to run in autopilot.

He spun around in his chair to face Dib. Dib looked at Zim, whose face had gone completely serious. "You realize what we just agreed to, right?"

"You mean saving the Earth? Of course. I've done it a thousand times when I was a kid."

"Against me. If we're right about the Yulom, then this might be even more dangerous than anything we have ever faced. I don't know about you, but I want to go in with a plan."

"You want a plan?"

"Zim always has a plan. Everything Zim does is planned."

"So, what's our plan?"


	26. Chapter 26

"OK," Dib said, staring at a slowly spinning hologram of Earth, "Were would the Yulom have their main base?"

The hologram was set in front of the couch so that they sit down comfortably and focus on their plan.

"What does that matter?"

"If we find their base, we can attack and drive them out as quickly as possible."

"Dib, you've never had to take over a planet, have you?"

"No, have you?"

"Of course. This is what Irkens are trained for." Zim points a spot in the Arctic. "GIR has a group of followers up here. The Yulom shouldn't have any affect on them, so we'll be safe while we figure out their weakness."

"GIR has followers?"

"When I stopped trying to take over Earth, I let GIR go do whatever he wants. Apparently a large number of you humans find his stupidity likable. There's a whole city hidden here." Zim pointed to that spot again. It was nearly at the top of the world. "We should be safe and welcomed."

"So, wait, there are people who like GIR?"

"Not just like, he's become their god. I've even heard some of you humans say they love him."

"You've been there before?"

"Of course. GIR's using my old compound. Remember when I pretended you be your Santa Clause and managed to get the whole human race to build a teleporter to their doom?"

"I remember. I also remember that plan failing pathetically and I had to save you with my father's mecha."

"Ah yes. Well, I already had things under control, you just made it go faster. Back to the plan, if we hide up here, then the Yulom won't know we've come, and we have the element of surprise."

"But Earth needs help now. We can't sit around waiting for an opening. We need to make one."

"Dib, I'm the Irken, I'm the one who knows how to Invade, I'm the one with the resources."

"And It's my planet."

"I'm the one who knows how they think."

"Exactly. They are the ones who taught you, so they know all your strategies."

"But they don't know we're coming back. And they don't know we know about them. We still have the element of surprise. If we loose that, then the entire human race will attack. You know that Dib. You've been trying to make it happen for years. There is only two of us against the world, and we have too much to get through to waste it on a foolish attack."

"Well..." Dib's shoulders fall. "Maybe your right."

"Of course I am," Zim said, snuggling up to Dib. "Don't worry. The Earth will be fine. They probably had control of the Earth for years already and not even you noticed. I doubt they are going to destroy the Earth anytime soon.

"I'm not afraid that they are going to destroy it. I know they aren't going to destroy it. They are going to use humanity as soldiers to fight their wars, and no one would even know they've been enslaved."

"Well, what's so wrong about that? It's better than being knowingly enslaved. What they don't know won't hurt them. And just look at the Irken race, we're one of the best races in the universe."

"Billions of humans will die in these wars. And I don't care if they don't know. I know and I'm not going to let it happen."

"Oh, Dib. My little warrior." Zim wrapped his arms around Dib.

"Hey, I'm bigger than you."

"Don't ruin the moment."

Dib laughs softly, almost unheard. He holds Zim in his arms, feeling the warmth from the small alien. The top of Zim's head was all he could see as Zim nuzzled up to Dib's chest. He felt himself leaning down like he was drawn towards Zim.

It felt like everything but one thing had left his mind and the only thing stopping him was Zim. Dib kissed the top of Zim's head. Gently setting his lips on Zim's skin, just between his antenna. Zim turned his head up, looking up at Dib. Dib could see his reflection in the sparkling red eyes that stared at him, and nothing else.

Zim pushed up against Dib's chest to meet his lips. They stayed entwined together from top to bottom. Not even their lips would untangle as their mouths fit together like two cogs. The only pauses were from Dib to take a breath through his nose, not wanting to let go of Zim in anyway for as long as possible.

Zim's hands were starting to move along his face, tracing his hair line to the top of his head and weaving his fingers through his hair. Zim's fingers swirled around the spot where the long piece of hair that always stood out was growing back. Zim felt the shape of the hair, almost stroking it as Dib's hands started to wonder as well.

Dib rubbed the top of Zim's head, making sure to avoid the antenna as close as he can. Teasing the skin around them, brushing past the base of them in quick, light sweeps. Zim relaxed against Dib, curling up in the arm that still held him, and holding onto Dib's hair, almost like a baby that was falling asleep.

Dib's hand rubbed more along the back of Zim's neck. Their lips never parting. He traces along Zim's back, running his finger along Zim's spine. Feeling the fabric of Zim's uniform. It's silky and stretchy fabric that almost felt like fleece mixed with every other fabric known to man. He traces down until his finger touches the nearly hot metal of Zim's pak.

Zim jumped, pushing away from Dib, falling backwards into the couch. Dib sat up, startled by Zim's sudden reaction. He tried to figure out what was wrong. Maybe it was because the pak as sensitive or something. Zim sat in the middle of the couch, almost curled up in a ball. He had covered his face with his hands. He almost looked like he was crying, but Dib couldn't tell.

"I'm sorry," Dib said, "If it's anything that I did. I'm sorry."

"Just, don't touch there."

"I promise."

Dib moved close to Zim so that they could continue with what they were doing, but Zim just inched away. As Dib tried to set a hand on him, Zim twisted to avoid him. Dib held his hand back, Zim curled up even more. It was almost impossible to see anything but his arms.

"Zim, what's wrong?"

"Nothing. I'm just not feeling very well. I don't want you to catch it."

"Catch what?"

"My head hurts. I think I'm going to go to sleep."

"Zim, what are you talking about."

"It's nothing. Absolutely nothing at all. Zim can handle everything."

"If something's wrong, I want you to tell me."

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just not in the mood."

"You're starting to scare me, Zim."

"Nothing's wrong. I think I'm going to go to bed now. I'm tired."

Zim got up to leave, but Dib grabbed his hand. Zim tried to pull out of Dib's grip, but Dib held on strong, staring Zim in the eyes until Zim sat back down on the couch. Dib let go, and Zim tried to leave again, but Dib jumps from the couch, flying into Zim.

He wraps his arms around Zim, holding him close as Zim started to struggle against Dib, although not very strongly.

"Let go Dib. I'm sick."

"I don't care if you're sick. If you get sick, then I'll get sick too."

"Dib, please. I don't want to do this."

"We don't have to. I'm sorry if I did anything that made you feel bad. Just tell me what's wrong."

"Please..."

"Zim, I don't care. Just tell me want's wrong and maybe I can help."

"You can't help me. No one can. I'm broken, a useless defect."

"What?"

"All this love, this affection. It goes against everything that I am, and yet I can't help myself."

"You're special, Zim, you're different."

"Do you even know what's it's like to be so different from everything you know?"

"Of course."

"You think you do, but you don't. You can never know. You still act somewhat like your species. You're not so different that they'd rather throw you into a star that's second away from blowing up or onto some unknown planet in the backwater areas of space than to spend one moment with you. I know this is all wrong, my pak is burning at me to stop, but something is over riding it all. Something is wrong, yet I can't do anything else. I'm sick."

"Zim, you're not sick. You're..."

"I'm what?"

Dib didn't have an end to that sentence. He wanted to say human, that was his first instinct, but Zim wasn't human, he was an Irken, and that was what made him feel so bad. Dib could still say that he was a human saving the human race, but what could Zim say.

"You're Zim."

Zim nodded. "Of course, I'm Zim. I've always been Zim, the defect everything laughed at. Nearly blew up my planet, and not just during operation Impending Doom 1, but in every moment of my life. I went on trial once. I was surrounded by Irkens calling me a defect, wanting my pak, and my life deleted. I was convicted of being a defect, but I'm so broken, that the Big Brains couldn't even delete me. I ended up destroying them. My own Gods, and I drove them insane. What kind of Irken am I? How can I be so broken that I destroy everything I touch? I've destroyed planets, always planets that my own species was on. I've killed leaders, never the ones I should have. I've driven everyone to hatred. That's who Zim is. I'm not sick, I'm Zim, is that what you're saying?"

"Well..."

"And now that we know who's really behind all of this, behind the power of the Irken race, my species, we're going to destroy them to save the people I was going to destroy once upon a time."

"No one's perfect, and if you weren't a defect, would anything really matter? Because you're Zim, you have the freedom to choose anything you want to do. If you want the Earth when this is all over, then take it. I probably would have gone insane in my father's lab by now if I hadn't met you. You've become to hope of the universe because you're not a normal Irken, you're something above it. Above even the tallest Irken."

"Dib, I'm scared."

"You're scared?"

"I'm scared that this is going to kill me. An Irken afraid of death is ridiculous, but I am. The Yulom have control of both our races, and if this fails, we'll be killed, but it will be in the most humiliating way possible. The Yulom already know us, and they will know how to break us."

"I'm scared to do this too. I'm not scared to die, but I know what would happen if this fails." He'll be sent back to his father to carry on whatever the Yulom have in store for Membrane industries. "And that terrifies me more than even the most gruesome and humiliating deaths."

"I hate this. I have so many things telling me what to do, and I want to follow them all, but they don't fit. There's you telling me to save the Earth, there's something telling me to stay with you, there's my instincts telling me to fight everything, there's all the memories from previous Irkens of what happens to traitors, there's my loyalty to my race, the tallest, and the brains. It's all running through my brain, and it's so jumbled up, I can't even tell which one I should follow anymore."

Dib hugged Zim close, pushing his face against the back of Zim's head. "Follow me. I understand how hard it is, I know we're both going to have to go against our own species for this. But I promise, when this is done, we'll have waffles."

Zim made a gagging sound. "Not waffles. How about something else, like chips and soda."

Dib smiled. "Sounds great."


	27. Chapter 27

_Sorry for such a long break between updates. There were a million things that I had to do, and a million things that I wanted to do, so something had to give. Between NaNoWriMo, school, family, and other stuff, I hadn't been able to work on any of my fan fictions. But don't worry, I'm back to regular updating. For now, enjoy a city run by GIR._

* * *

><p>They made it back to Earth twice as fast as before. Zim kept the ship in autopilot, so that might have been the reason for it. The autopilot seemed to have found a more direct way to Earth, as well a better ability to avoid anything that would slow them down. Dib didn't tell Zim these observations, of course. Zim's ego was taking enough of a battering, it was best he didn't consider himself pathetic in everything.<p>

It took Dib nearly the entire time they flew back to Earth to coax Zim close to his usual self. Zim stopped talking about himself in the third person, which made conversations with him a little unnerving for Dib. Zim was always so boastful, and while it got annoying at times, it was Zim. It was worse than when he woke up after the bike crash. Zim was feeling sorry for himself, but at least Dib managed to bring him back, now it was like looking at a badly made clone version of Zim.

Dib brought Zim some cookies to snack on. They weren't Irken cookies, so they still made Zim a little sick, but Zim insisted on eating them. Dib came back with a ham sandwich as he sat back down in his seat. Earth was coming into view, beautiful blue Earth. It was beautiful from this high up, it kind of made him forget about all the shit that was down there.

All the people who would tease him for reasons they didn't even understand. His father, the mad scientist that was loved by the world who couldn't see how evil he was. Dib wasn't even sure his father was evil, just under alien control, which somehow made much more sense than a bad father. Billions and billions of humans down there, his people, and he was still the sworn guardian of Earth, even if he never in a billion years is recognized for all the work he's done, and all the work he's about to do, to keep everyone safe from the creatures beyond the stars.

He stared down at the planet, almost looking for signs of the Yulom, but he wasn't even sure that he'd be able to know them if he saw them. From what he can tell, they've been around since before he was born, and they have perfectly hidden in human society by becoming the human society. The willing ignorance, the stupidity, everything that drove Dib crazy about humanity, might just be caused by alien interference. He wasn't even sure he could trust the swollen eyeballs, even if they would answer his calls.

Zim took control of the ship once they passed the moon. It was odd coming home again. He knew he hadn't been gone for that long, the villagers might still have their torches lit, but after that short trip, it was like everything he knew about his world had changed. He could have sworn there were things he never noticed before, like the shape of some man-made islands, they no longer looked like anything man had made. And what about the pyramids, was that the Yulom too? Were they really here so long that they affected every moment of human development? And why humans? What drew this powerful alien race to Earth? Why did they want humans?

They flew in the clouds for a long while, using the clouds to disguise their approach. Zim also used a cloaking device, but the clouds made everything seem so mysterious. Just white puffs of mist that seemed to disappear once they got close. It was sort of beautiful, at the same time annoying.

"So, what's GIR's place like?"

"Very creepy. Several hundred human worshipers, all acting like GIR."

Dib shuddered at that thought. GIR was pretty hard to handle, with they nonsensical way he said things and the high pitch squeal at nearly every thing that excited him, Dib only dealt with GIR because it helped him get closer to Zim. GIR was hard enough to deal with, but hundreds of people acting like GIR sounded like hell.

The ship dropped out from the clouds, but it was hard to tell if they really did. They went from a realm of white clouds, to a desert of white snow. Miles and miles of snow and nothing else. In a way, it was a little beautiful, especially the occasional light that hit the snow and made it sparkle like diamonds, but with all the white, it felt like Dib had gone blind.

Eventually a small black speck appeared on the horizon, and Zim started to fly lower the closer they got to it. As it gained shape, Dib realized that it wasn't a small town, or compound like when he was last there, but it had grown into a huge city made of square, black buildings.

Zim hovered over it for a few seconds as he looked for a place to land. Dib took in the size of the city. He couldn't believe how many people must live here and worship GIR to justify a place this size. The streets were filled with green covered people, all hurrying around to get a good look at the ship. Dib never remembered anyone being interested in UFOs that weren't crazy, himself excluded. Zim found a small open area for him to land.

The ships propulsion kicked up snow as it landed, blocking out the city. Dib could have sworn he saw something coming at them. It looked like a huge mob, but the small snow storm Zim created covered them up before Dib could even tell what was going on.

Zim pulled Dib to follow him off the ship, and as they came out, a huge crowd of people had massed around the ship. They all wore green parkas and black snow pants. It sort of made them look like green marshmallows. The hoods of these jackets included black dog ears and they were zipped up with an oversized zipper, making them look more like GIR than people.

Behind them, just in the distance was a giant GIR statue. He almost looked dignified as he stood, staring up. Looking down at the people, they looked less so. There were banners around the streets with GIR's face on them. To Dib's surprise, some of it was of GIR without his costume. Everyone stared up at them with large smiles.

"Hi there!" They all said at once.

Dib waved weakly. "Hi."

"I wish to see GIR, humans!"

"Of course master!" They said at once. It was like they were all thinking with one brain. And, considering who they decided to worship, wouldn't be that hard to believe.

They all turned around and started walking down the street. Dib looked to Zim, then to the crowd, then back to Zim. This all seemed too odd. He has a long list of things that are odd, and this one is at the top. This almost tops when Zim told him he loved him.

"Why did they call you master?" Dib whispered to Zim.

"It's what GIR calls me, so they copied GIR. I didn't bother to correct them." Zim shrugged. Dib would have given anything for him to smile then. The old Zim would have loved to have a crowd of humans call him master, but he acted like it wasn't anything special.

They followed the crowd down the street. The snow crunched under their feet. Dib hugged himself close. He did not dress right for arctic weather. He had his jacket on, but it wasn't think enough. He held himself, trying to keep his body heat in his body, but it was hard.

"Hey," Dib asked, "Can you get me a jacket or something. I'm not exactly dressed for this weather."

"Okeydokey!" The man said, jogging off. That worried Dib. If they were acting exactly like GIR, that meant he was going to get distracted with something.

There was no end to GIR memorabilia around the city. Every other store seemed to sell junk food, or waffles, and the other stores sold little GIR bobble heads and crap like that. This town was GIR crazy. It was kind of unnerving. The sort of unnerving you get while watching a very cutesy kids show and it suddenly turning really dark.

The town seemed to go on forever. They passed several blocks, or what was probably blocks, there wasn't a set shape to this city, and all he's seen were places selling waffles, pizza and toys. One store was filled with rubber piggies. This definitely seemed like GIR's kind of place. It was like walking through a cross of something that was pulled out of GIR's mind, and the rest was made in GIR's image.

They walked past a spot, where instead of a store, there was a large GIR statue. This one was GIR in his costume. It looked like he was waving at everyone who passed by. At the bottom of the statue was piles and piles of gifts. Toys, food, money, and next to tall the piles, were rows of worshipers, bowing down to the statue, and muttering like they were saying some sort of prayer to GIR.

At the end of the road, was a large building. It looked like the tower that Zim stayed in while he was ordering people to do "Santa's" bidding. It looked like it had been changed to suit GIR's tastes, which mostly involved splashing paint in chaotic colour patterns.

The followers of GIR stood to each side of the road, while the ones at the front opened up the doors for them. They all cheered as Zim and Dib walked down the road. It was like a two person parade. They walked through the doors, which were closed behind them.

Dib sighed in relief that the inside of this building was heated. He had started to worry that his fingers were going to fall off. As Dib shook the feeling back into his fingers, he followed Zim up the winding staircase to where ever it led.

There didn't seem to be any end to the spiral staircase. By this time all the feeling had returned to Dib's skin and the stinging feeling from the blood coming back had faded away. Soon they reached the top of the staircase.

At the very top, there was a red carpet that ran under two more large doors. It looked like the sort of red carpet that led to throne rooms or at the Oscars. Dib and Zim went up to the doors, and taking one door each, they pushed it open.

More hot air came from the room as a bright light came out from behind the door, almost blinding. When they finally were able to see again, they were greeted with the large, luxurious room. There was a crystal chandelier, which was where all the light was coming from, and to the side was a huge fireplace. The carpet cut through the room to a gold throne. It stank.

GIR sat on the throne, grinning in his constant state of happiness. He was covered in jewels and had a large crown on his head. All around him was snacks, including a large table full of steaming hot biscuits. When GIR saw them, he dropped the pizza he was snacking on, making grease stains all the way down to the floor, and jumped up, causing most of the jewels to fall off.

"Master! You've decided to visit!"

GIR ran up to them and gave both of them a big hug, crushing everyone together. GIR seemed to have started to smell worse since Dib last saw him. He always had this smell of rotting grease to him, but now it felt like the smell of a McMeaties that had been abandoned for years and no one had ever cleaned up.

"Yes GIR. Me and Dib have decided to stay for a little while at your... nice... home."

"That's great! I'll make the biscuits! Did you and master finally make up?"

"Yes, GIR, we made up."

"Yay! I'll make the gravy too."

GIR ran off to the corner and just stood there for a while. Dib gave Zim a smile, and after a bit of effort, Zim returned the smile.

"It's good to have such a nice friend isn't it?" Dib said.

"Yes, but sometimes I wish my 'friends' were just a little smarter. Maybe that's why I chose you."

"Thanks," Dib said, trying to get another smile out of Zim, but it was like trying to get the last bit of toothpaste out of the tube.


	28. Chapter 28

"So, GIR, it's really OK for us to stay here?" Dib asked as GIR led them down a hall.

"Sure. Watch out for the Piggies!"

Dib looked all around, but the only thing on the floor was a pig themed carpet. He did his best to avoid stepping on them in the most natural way possible, but he still felt foolish. The inside of the building was even more GIR themed than Dib could even think possible, although, GIR was probably the one who designed it. The splatters of food on the walls were a nice touch.

GIR stopped halfway down the hall and opened the door. "You just stay in this room! K?"

"Of course GIR," Zim said, "It's good to know you're helpful for once."

"Yay!" GIR screamed and ran back down the hall.

"Have you ever considered fixing him?"

"I've tried a few times, but he's nothing but garbage. This is probably the best I can do."

They walked into the room. It Dib sucked in a deep breath of air and couldn't breath it out again. The room was just as extravagant as GIR's throne room, but it was clean. It looked like the kind of room that's only in the richest hotels that only the leaders of the world could use, and only because they agreed to put their country into debt to pay for it.

"Wow," Dib said, to finally get some air moving again, "This is..."

"Of course. What else would loyal GIR offer his master?" Zim marched up to the bed.

Dib sat down beside him and took it all in. It was beyond what he could even dream about. He had never really cared about how nice a place looked, but this place was so amazing that he couldn't help but notice. Where did they get all the money to build this? Did GIR really have so many followers that they would be able to pay for things like this?

"This is a nice bed, isn't it Dib?" Zim smiled at Dib.

"Huh?"

Dib didn't quite notice the bed. He was so distracted from the fine art on the walls, the diamond chandelier on the ceiling, the gold designs around the room, the fireplace that looked like you could have a second bedroom in. When Zim mentioned it, Dib realized that it was a nice bed. Really soft and covered in a velvety like blankets.

"The bed is really nice," Zim said, putting more emphasis on the word bed.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"It's a really nice bed." He rubbed the sheets and patted them down, that smile was really starting to make Dib feel uncomfortable. Zim hadn't smiled since they found out that the aliens in charge of his entire society were the same ones they would have to destroy. But now he had the same smile as when they were younger.

"Yeah. This whole room is really nice." Dib tried not to look at Zim. He didn't know what was wrong, but he didn't want to push things any further if it was the cause.

"It is. A nice, room, with a closed door, and a nice bed."

"You sure seem to like this bed."

"Well, beds are nice. There is so much you can do in them. You can lay down, go to sleep, eat breakfast, just relax, or maybe do things not so relaxing." Zim snuggled up to Dib, rubbing his hand up Dib's arm.

"Zim? What's wrong? A little over a day ago you were scared to have me touch you because you weren't sure if you wanted to be with me or not. You haven't even been yourself since then, let alone anything that would suggest that you wanted sex."

"I don't know. I guess I've just been feeling better." Zim trailed a finger along Dib's legs, making an indirect line to the top of them.

"But what about the Yulom? Isn't that something we need to focus on?"

"Yulom, Shulom," Zim said, dismissing the idea with a wave of his hand, "They've been around for thousands of years, probably for your whole race's existence. They're not going anywhere soon."

Dib moved away from Zim, nearly causing Zim to fall over. "But that's the only reason we came back, to save Earth. We're hiding with GIR in the middle of the Arctic surrounded by the insane fanatics that followed GIR here just so we could avoid detection. We could be on some sunny beach planet with a few drinks enjoying the universe rather than being stuck in this hole."

"What do you mean hole? Isn't this the height of your human luxury?"

"It's not the room I care about, it's you..."

"I care about you too." Zim crawled back up and held onto Dib's arm.

"Zim!" Dib stood up, this time making Zim fall on the floor when he refused to let go of his arm. "People don't just walk into a room and want sex."

"Some people do. And I'm not a person, I'm an Irken... Heh, that rhymes."

Dib crouched down to get a look at Zim. "Zim, what's wrong? You're starting to sound weird."

"Oh, now you think I'm weird?" Zim said way too loud as he struggled to stand up. He looked like someone who was drunk. His eyes looked a little unfocused and he swayed as he stood. "You can't find anything right about me, can you."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think you know what I'm talking about. You can't even accept that I'm not even your species."

"What?"

"You called me a person. You can't even think of what I am beyond "you're Zim!""

"But that's who you are. I don't care if you're an alien or not. In the time I've known you, I've gotten over the idea of catching aliens. I like you Zim, not because you're another species."

"Really? You're not just saying that."

"Why would I just say that? I love you Zim. I love being with you, I like being places with you. I don't care if we're on Earth on some strange moon, or not even in the universe anymore. I'd love you if you were human, Irken, or an Earth worm."

"Oh, Dib. I'm so glad you said that. No one had ever told Zim such beautiful things." Zim collapsed into Dib's arms and struggled to climb to as close to standing as possible. "No one has ever shown Zim love. If I stay with you, do you promise to always stay with me, no matter what happens?"

"I promise."

"Good. Because if you didn't, I'd tear off my pak and wait to die."

"You'd tear off your pak if you thought I didn't love you anymore?"

"That's why I did it. Zim was being mean and you walked away."

"You mean that's why I found you dead in the bathroom? Because you thought that I didn't love you anymore?"

"Yeah. But I promise to keep my pak on forever if you stay by me forever."

"I promise I'll never leave you. You're the only being in the world I care about. You became the only thing I cared about in the world. I never stopped watching you, and I never will."

"Good. Dib, can we go back on the ..." Zim passed out. His eyes were still open, but he went limp in Dib's arms.

"Zim!" Dib shook Zim's still body.

"Dib…" Zim groaned barely able to lift his head, "I don't feel so good. I think there's something wrong."

"Zim…" Dib said, but he was hit by a wave of dizziness. "What's going on?"

"Let's get on the bed."

"OK."

Dib crawled back onto the bed, dragging Zim with him like Zim was a large alien doll. He landed in the middle of the bed and started laughing because he didn't make it all the way to the pillows. Zim had already fallen back asleep with his eyes open. Dib chuckled as he watched Zim lay there, staring at the ceiling without moving.

"Zim?" He said to the still form, leaning in close to whisper it into Zim's head. "Zim? I just want you to know, I really love you, and I'm really sad that you can't love me the same way. I know you try. I can see you're trying so hard because you just want me to be happy, and I am. I'm so happy that you try so hard for me. But I'm sad that you're trying so hard, and it's hurting you. Oh Zim. I love you."

Dib leaned down and kissed Zim's head. He then started petting Zim's head, paying careful and gentle attention to the two antennas, stroking them like they were delicate threads that would come apart at the slightest touch. He held them, and gave the tips a kiss.

"Zim, I think there's something wrong with this room."

Zim didn't stir. Dib's head hit the bed, but he wasn't asleep. He felt like he was about to fall asleep though. He felt so tired, and peaceful, like he was relaxed, and all he needed to do was close his eyes and he would feel completely at rest.

Dib struggled to sit up. This wasn't right. He shouldn't feel this tired, and Zim shouldn't be that out of it. Zim's breathing was becoming shallower, and the room was starting to blur and spin. It rippled like everything around him was made of water. Dib clutched his stomach as it felt like the contents of his stomach were about to heave and cover the bed.

A light came from where the door was. Dib squinted to try and steady his vision so he could make out who they were. They just appeared as these white blobs, like ghosts, but they didn't move like ghosts. They looked sort of like big white aliens.

"It looks like your boy's still awake." Dib's head swayed to the voice. It wasn't familiar, it sounded a little mechanical.

"My poor son, always unable to give anything up." Another voice said. It also didn't sound like anyone he knew. He couldn't place the voice, or the face, but the thing spoke like it knew him.

Dib tried to push himself up further, but only ended up falling backwards. He could feel hands grab him, and pull Zim away. It felt like he was floating. He couldn't feel anything but a few hands underneath him. Dib struggled to try and find Zim, but Zim wasn't anywhere nearby.

"Bye bye now!" GIR said.

Dib fought to see where he was going, but his head was so heavy that he could only let it fall backwards. Maybe they had something right when they called his head big. All he could see was what they passed. He watched the stairs shake as he was carried over them.

The air outside was still freezing, but he didn't have the strength to care. Dib was thrown into a large white van with no windows. Zim was tossed onto the other side of it and the doors were slammed shut. The inside of the van was barely warmer than outside.

Dib tried to blink some vision back into his eyes, but everything was too dark. He crawled around the back of the van, feeling around for Zim. The van started to rock as it moved forward over the bumpy snow roads.

Dib's finger tips finally found Zim, a warm little bundle in the far corner of the van. He pulled Zim close, taking in the warmth of Zim's body. Dib fell asleep as he curled around Zim. Dib listened to Zim's pak as he felt it dig into his stomach, keeping him just a little bit warmer. It had a nice steady hum. Dib thought about his promise to Zim. He would make sure that Zim kept this pak on, and kept it humming forever.

Dib woke up surrounded by white. For a few seconds he nearly had a heart attack, thinking that he was dead. After falling off the white, foam bed, he stared around his room. It was a blindingly white room, even whiter than being in the arctic. The only thing that wasn't soft, white foam was a small window in the door.

"Dib! Please wake up!" Dib could hear Zim cry out.

Before Dib cold even take a look out the window to see if he could see Zim, his father's face appeared in the door like the window was only a movie screen with the scary face at the end of the movie.

"Good morning son. How are you feeling? Less insane I hope. Have you learned your lesson yet?"

"Where am I?"

"You're in a special place. You see, the contributors to Membrane industries have been hearing terrible things about you. I was sure they weren't true, but they wanted to make sure anyway."

"Where am I?"

"Don't worry. You'll be better in no time. Just relax, breakfast will be here soon and then we can carry on with your education. I don't know how you managed to run away, but we'll make sure that it won't happen again."

"Dad! Don't do this. You're working with aliens out to use the human race as soldiers to take over the universe. They're going to throw away our lives!"

"Now, son, you shouldn't be saying such crazy things. What happened to you? You seem to have come home even crazier than before."

"I didn't come home. You kidnapped me, or one of your robots."

"Don't be silly. Why would a father kidnap his own son? You're insanity must be making you confused. Just try to calm down. I'm going to have a talk with your little friend to see what we can do."

"Dib?" Zim's voice sounded worried.

"Zim! Dad, don't you dare hurt Zim. I don't care what you think, but you're not doing anything to Zim."

"I'm not going to do anything to him. We're just going to talk. Get some rest, I'll be back to talk to you soon."


	29. Chapter 29

Dib screamed and banged on the door. He stared through the window as Zim was pushed through down the hall by two guards with shocky sticks. Zim stopped a bit and stared at Dib. His eyes were wide and terrified. Zim was somehow in his disguise. He looked at Dib with his fake blue eyes. Dib banged on the door some more.

"Zim! Don't you dare hurt him. Zim, I'll think of something."

One of the guards jabbed the shocky stick deep into Zim's side, making him jump forward. Zim gave Dib one last look, their eyes staying locked for as long as possible. Dib refused to stop banging on the door as Zim walked out of sight. If they were going to keep him there, then he was going to make as much noise as possible.

Dib kept on yelling at anyone who might be close enough to hear and banging on the door until his voice was too sore to continue and there were several cuts on the side of his hand. He slid down to the floor and curled up. He had no idea what to do. He didn't have anything he could use to get out. He didn't know where Zim was. He didn't know what was in store for him.

"Are you done yelling, young one?"

Dib looked around the room, but it still looked empty. He knew that voice; it was that Yulza that talked to him. Dib couldn't quite remember his name, but he was pretty sure it had an 'o' in it. Dib sat up. His head was still spinning from hours of hyperventilating.

"Good. I was worried you were going to hurt yourself."

"Where are you?"

"It doesn't matter. This room is heavily monitored so I can't break my cover. I'm not even truly speaking to you so I suggest you stop talking to give the illusion that you're alone."

"It won't be so weird if they think I'm talking to myself. I've been talking to myself for years." Dib was the only one who would even listen to himself. "And they already think I'm crazy. I can talk out loud all I want, and no one will find it odd or think I'm not alone."

"Perhaps, but what if their perception of your insanity is all an act. I know you're feeling hurt, but we must error on caution and keep the dialog to a minimum."

Dib shrugged his shoulders.

"They're not going to kill your partner. To do so would mean exposing themselves to his pak, and they've already learned not to do that. So you just need to be patient and wait for them to bring you to him. I'll create a distraction that will give you the time to free yourselves and make an escape so that you can fight another day."

"Are you in this room?"

"Dib!" The Yulza yelled in a quick bark before composing himself back to that smooth, noble tone. "Young one, try to keep as quiet as possible. Success hinges on their ignorance of our plans. And if the thought is really so distracting, yes, I am in this room. I've been staying close by you to make sure you do not fail. You're our last hope, and if Earth falls completely under the control of the Yulom, then, as a very descriptive human saying goes, "It will be the straw that breaks the camel's back.""

"Why me?"

"There are several humans on Earth that have your ability to make a difference. Humans are gaining the ability to change the nature of a species. At the moment there are only a few scattered families holding this ability, and out of all of them, you are the only one who is not under the control of the Yulom's control."

"You've said that."

"And you are the only one with the heart enough to want to change the way things are. You still have the ability to see everything for what it is, and you want to share what you see. You have yet to be bullied into seeing only certain parts of the world, like all of your family before you, and unlike your sister, you want to make things better. That's why we want you for this."

"How do you know all of this about me?"

"Hush, young one. You're already saying too much. If they know to look for me, they'll find me and the universe is doomed. Ever since the Yulom had taken an interest in Earth, all the old species started to recognize the human potential that even today, after years of Yulom interference, still is as potent as it was thousands of years ago. The Yulza have noticed the appearance of the very powerful power you have when it appeared in your great grandfather, and we've been trying to show everyone who inherits it the truth, but our range is limited and humanity's growth into the stars has been stunted until it suits the Yulom. That is, until you, already untainted and caring, came with the Irken."

"So it's just my dumb luck."

"Yes it is. And I'm afraid this is all I'm going to tell you for now. The conversation seems to give you the urge to talk with me, and others are already taking notice that you're talking to yourself, like answering the other end of a conversation. Stay quiet and relax for now. Soon they will be letting you out and then we'll make our move."

"Wait, how will I know what to do?"

Dib felt a soft touch on his forehead, making him feel drowsy and fall back onto the floor. "The mind already knows so much, despite it's youth. Rest for now. Things will be getting harder and harder, so enjoy this peace now."

"You call this peace?"

"You'll see soon enough."

Dib fell asleep on the floor, curled up next to the door. He drifted in and out of consciousness, but mostly slept. It felt as if time was spinning out of control. Almost like a physical sensation of that spinning clock effect used in cheesy movies to show time moving quickly or backwards.

Time seemed to move back to normal as he felt the door behind him open. He was pushed to the side and finally got up to see one of the guards in uniform pushing a cart with food on it. The guard closed the door behind him. Dib could hear the door lock as soon as it touched the frame. The guard was wearing the typical head to toe uniform that all the guards at his father's labs wore. It looked more like a hazardous material suit than an actual guard's uniform, but since they worked inside his father's labs, it was probably for a good reason.

"Dib, I've brought you some breakfast," The guard said, looking behind the door. The guard was either a robot or had a voice changer on.

"I'm not hungry."

"Come on, if you don't eat you'll waste away."

"I'm not hungry."

"I can't leave until you eat something. The bosses don't want to risk opening the door more than we have to."

"Tell your bosses to shove it up their ass."

"Come on, Dib, it's for your own good."

"How exactly is this for my own good?"

"You'll starve if you don't eat."

"No, how is locking me up for my own good? How is years of torment for my own good? How is giving me shock treatment for my own good? How is having a father who only cares about one thing, and a sister who only cares about one thing and I'm never one of those things for my own good? Hell, they don't even care about what might happen to the world. I've been fighting for years to save the world all alone because no one believes me. My father calls me insane and my sister ignores me. How is any of that a good thing?"

"I'm sorry."

"Why? You weren't the one doing all of this? Or are you."

"Please just eat your breakfast. Don't make it hard for both of us."

"Like you have it so hard. You work, collect a pay check, and go home to a loving family. You're here by choice, and if you can't leave until I eat, then maybe I'll give you a taste of what I'm going through." Dib sat down on the bed, crossing his arms.

"Dib, stop being difficult and eat your food."

"What are you, my mother? And stop using my name. You might have heard it through the gossip, or your bosses might have told you, but don't use my name."

"Then what should I call you?"

"You don't need to call me anything. Just pretend that I've never existed."

"Well then, if you've never existed, then who is all this food for?"

"It's for the sea gulls. Go throw it off a cliff and leave me alone. I'll be gone soon. Me and Zim are leaving this planet and never coming back."

"You can't just leave."

"Watch me."

"Won't you miss all the people here?"

"Miss them? I'll be glad they're gone. I've only protected Earth because it was the only place that I knew, and now that I know of all the other planets out there, I think I'll just live on one of them and see what happens."

"Dib, I think you're taking this too far," The Yulza whispered.

"I see. Well, that sounds great, but it will be hard to escape Earth if you're starving. Eat your breakfast."

Dib picked up the fork, holding it like he was about to stab the guard. "You win this time."

He stabbed up a clump of dry scrambled eggs and chews them, not breaking eye contact with the visibly uncomfortable guard who was trying to look everywhere but Dib. Dib picks up a cold piece of buttered toast and tears off a piece with his teeth. He knew he was probably taking it a little too far, but the look that was probably on that guard's face was priceless.

He wondered if he was becoming some kind of monster, taking pleasure in watching the guard's discomfort, but he reminded himself that this guard worked for his father and the Yulom and was holding him against his will. He finished breakfast and the guard started to wheel the cart out.

"Wait."

The guard stopped and looked at Dib.

"What's your name?"

"Now you care?"

"Well, I feel a little bad about how I acted, and even thought I still hate you, I don't like hating someone without a name."

"Dass."

"Is that a girl's name or a boy's name?"

"Girl's."

"OK, Dass. You can call me Dib now, and I hope to never see you again."

"I hope so."

She pushed the cart out of the room and the door locked behind her. Dib wanted to run through that door, find Zim and leave right away, but he could think of several things that could go wrong with that. Mainly the guard that was just a few feet from the door who probably had a shocky stick. She seemed nice enough, but he doubted that she would risk her job for some kid.

"Patience, young one. Things will become clearer soon."

Dib laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He's had enough rest, he's eaten the gross food, and now all he has to do is wait for his father to remember him and then the escape can begin. Of course, there was always the big question of if his father would remember him, and after all those years of dealing with his father, Dib knew that it was a very big if. But if his father remembered him, and if he was taken to were Zim was, and if the Yulza's plan works, and if they were able to find a way out, things would get better.

"I hope so," Dib said.


	30. Chapter 30

_Sorry that my postings have been a little sparse. I've been a little bogged down with school, other projects, making sure I actually sleep, things like that. So posting new chapters have become a little harder. I really have missing a deadline, especially my own, and especially when there are other people out there. I think I'll try doing all my fan fiction stuff on a different day. A day that I don't have so much school. Maybe Tuesdays or Saturdays._

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><p>Dib spent the next few hours doing nothing. He stared at the ceiling, wondering what was taking them so long. What were they doing to Zim? How were they going to get out? Dib's been to his father's labs, if they were actually in the labs, to know a few ways out, but looking out the window showed that he was in a place that he had never seen before.<p>

Outside the door, he could hear other creatures crying out, he could also here the voices of other people, some crying to help, and others just crying. The Yulza had gone quiet. He didn't try to talk to Dib, and Dib didn't try to talk to him. The minutes crawled by.

The room was bare other than the bed and a small stain from breakfast. All there was for him to do was stare at the ceiling and let his mind wander. He tried to imagine his father's labs in his head, and think of all the exits, but he kept getting blocked. He kept running into the barrier of, what part of the labs he was in. Were there more escapes? Were there any escapes from here? What a time to not have Gaz with him. She probably has every inch of this place memorized and knew every way out.

The sound of the lock opening echoed around the room. Dib sat up and stared at the door. It pushed open and a guard walked through. It looked like Dass, but in that full body suit and the mechanical voice that the guard had it was hard to really tell at first glace. But Dib got a look at the eyes through the goggle like eye holes. Dass had sad, brown eyes, and as the guard looked at him, he saw the same sad, brown eyes. As she stood in the door, Dib could feel a soft breeze hit his face. The Yulza must have left already. It was just him and the guard.

"Come on, it's time," she said.

"Time for what? What does my father have planned?"

"I don't know. All I know is that I have to take you to the main hall."

"The main hall? That place were all the scientists gather and talk sciencey stuff?"

"No, the other main hall."

"Other main hall?"

"You'll see."

"And what if I don't want to follow you?"

"Then I'll have to use this?" The guard whipped her arm straight and a long shocky stick snapped out of the sleeve. Sparks shot from the tip of it in demonstration of its strength. "And I really don't want to use this on you."

"That's funny. I thought all guards were sadistic and loved giving pain."

"Not me, now, will you come or do I have to make you?"

"Don't worry, I planned to leave as soon as possible anyway."

Dib walked out of the room and the guard followed closely behind. He could hear the snaps of electricity jumping from the prongs on the shocky stick. The walls outside that room were just as stark white. Dozens of white doors lined the hall, nearly every one had some face pressed against it as they all watched Dib be led past.

None of the faces Dib saw were human. Most didn't even look like they were from Earth. In one he recognized one of the aliens, a plokasion, like the ones he met when he and Mr. Dwicky tried to get footage of Zim. He even saw a big foot mother holding her baby as she watched Dib pass. Dib tried to stare at the Big Foot for as long as possible, but the guard made sure he kept up the pace. At least she wasn't using the shocky stick, but she wasn't as lenient on Dib as he would like. But she was just doing her job, he didn't want to think about how bad it would be if he got a guard that loved doing this.

Dib stared at all the paranormal creatures, all the aliens. How was it that his father never believed him, yet Membrane saw all of these things probably every day? What did they have planned for all of them? Were they prisoners, or were they there for experiments? It made Dib worry about what might happen to him. The hall went on forever, twisting and turning but never quite ending until they reached two red doors so big they took up the entire wall. They looked more like the gates to some creepy hell dimension rather than a main hall. There was no knobs on them or anything that looked like it could be used to open them. They looked too heavy to push.

"Take a step forward," Dess instructed.

Dib did as she said. His foot sank as he set it down. He looked and saw it was a depressed tile. The doors slowly started to open outwards in a very dramatic fashion. It was dark inside. He couldn't see past were the doors were. Dib looked back Dess who pointed her shocky stick at him in response.

Dib turned back to the dark space and started walking towards it. As soon as he lifted his foot, the doors started to close again, just as slowly as before, and closing shut just as he was in the room. It was compete darkness. Dib stood for a second. If he backed up now, he might find a way out. But he remembered Zim. Zim had to be somewhere ahead. He wouldn't leave without Zim.

Dib walked forward, not really sure that there would be anything under his feet when he set his foot down. He couldn't see anything, it was like walking blind. Maybe that's what happened. As soon as he walked through the doors, they sprayed him with a gas that made him blind so he wouldn't see anything that they were doing.

Dib walked slowly, worried that he was going to run into something, or trip over something, or maybe take a step to find there's no floor there. The last one might sound silly, but Dib knew in this world, the stupid tend to reign. Dib kept going straight. There didn't seem to be any turn in the halls. He didn't even find the walls.

Dib took three more steps, and smacked face first into a wall. "Ow, that wasn't smart."

The wall opened up into another pair of giant doors. The light inside the next room was so bright that Dib had to cover his eyes, which had almost gotten used to the dark. Dib covered his face with his arm, blocking out most of the light, but his eyes still ached from the sudden burst of light in his face.

"Well, you've finally made it son."

Dib dropped his arm and squinted into the bright room. It was a large, white room, like everything about this place before. On either side of Dib was balconies of seats all facing something that looked like a throne. His father and a few other scientists stood at the front of the room and something that looked like a giant computer screen with a vibrating line along the middle of it sat above the throne like it was trying to sit on it. In the middle of it all was Zim, laying face down on the floor.

"Zim!" Dib yelled as he ran over to make sure Zim was still alive.

Dib fell onto his knees beside Zim as he turned him over. Zim's eyes were closed, but they seemed to twitch as Dib rolled him onto his back. He looked like he was just trying to stay asleep, but Dib knew better. Dib pulled Zim onto his lap and held him close. The pak dug into Dib's legs. It was still warm and there was the vibration of working parts, but it was nothing like it should be.

"Zim, what did they do to you?" Dib said in a lowered voice.

"Son, it's so nice that you're here. We were beginning to worry you weren't going to come," Membrane said, holding his arms open as if he was trying to act hospitable.

"What did you do to him?"

"We were just talking. That Irken of yours sure likes to talk," The thing hovering over the chair said.

"Dad, please tell me you're not betraying the human race."

"I'm not son. I'm helping it."

"Dad?"

"You're father tells the truth. He created all of this to bring humanity to it's potential."

"And you Yulom want to exploit that, don't you."

"What did you just call me?"

"You Yulom just want to use humanity as your pawns for destroying the universe, just like you're using the Irkens, but the Irkens aren't good enough anymore, are they."

"Son, don't confuse the computer with your madness, we're only here to help you."

"Of course, Professor, we only want to help. Would you please leave the room for a second, I wish to convince Dib alone."

"Certainly. That's why you're here, to help convince my poor son to turn away from madness."

"I'll do my best to make him change this foolish path."

"Excellent. Son, listen to the nice computer and maybe you can join me for milk and cookies." His father walked out, almost skipping past as he left through a small pair of doors that sat next to the large red ones.

"Good slaves are so hard to find. You're species is a goldmine. Stupid, you reproduce quickly, you throw all your effort into whatever cause you focus on and so easy to control, it's like playing with toys. Even the strongest minds among you are so easy to manipulate."

"I'm not."

"Yet. There are currently just over seven billion humans on this planet, and you're only one of a small handful, isolated and too small to make a difference."

"Oh yeah? I know about you, and I've been protecting Earth my entire life. Just try to get away with this."

"You only fought against the likes of Zim. An Irken so defective, he can't even follow his natural instincts. Before we even took over that race, they were ruthless and stupid, it's what made them such good warriors. They didn't care for or love anything. And with our improvements, they became organized and powerful. That creature you hold in your arms isn't Irken anymore, and he isn't one of our soldiers. He's a weak fool who stumbled into our ranks. You saying you can defeat us because you've defeated Zim and have learned about our existence is like saying a mouse can defeat a cat because it has found a way into the house and snacked on some cheese. You have nothing. You are nothing. There is nothing left."

"You keep telling yourself that. Because one day you're guard will be dropped and I'll be there to destroy you."

"One day? My dear Dib, you haven't even seen us with our guards up. You'll be rotting organic matter before you see us even more relaxed than we are now."

"Oh yeah? Well if your guards are so low, then why bother capturing me and Zim? Huh? That sounds like you're worried."

"Tell me, Dib, have you ever swatted a mosquito?"

"Sure. Why?"

"Well, did that mosquito ever pose a threat to your life? Or to your goals? Was it a menace that must be destroyed? Or was it just buzzing around your ear, making annoying sounds, and posed the possibility to give you a small annoying bite?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"I love that your planet has so many good metaphors to use to make this simpler for you. You're are just a mosquito buzzing around our ears, a small mouse in front of a cat, a tiny ant barely end up by the surface tension in the puddle it wandered into. You are a bug on a windshield, and lookey here, we have some washing fluid to clean up your guts."

"So, you're going to kill us?"

"That would make things easier, won't it. Well, not for the cleaning slaves, but they're just more ants."

Dib stood up, holding Zim close to his chest like a child. Dib could barely feel Zim's life signs against his skin. "You'll be surprised at what ants can do."

"Oh, I am. But there's no surprises to what only one ant does. And in case you truly are insane, I think I should point out that there is only you and Zim, and considering your aptitude for things like this, there is only really you. Are we done talking now? Can we get on with the killing?" Doors opened up all around the room and guards with shocky sticks set at the highest voltage came walking out.

Dib looked around, meeting the eyes of every guard. They looked back, but he could see the blood thirst in their eyes. Dib held Zim close, hoping that the Yulza wasn't just leaving them. "I think you've been ruling over stupid people for far too long. Maybe it's time for you to be surprised at what an ant can do."

As he said that, the floors began to shake and all the lights went off. Dib could hear the guards banging on their sticks, trying to get them to work. The signal. Zim weakly lifted his arm and poked Dib in the eye. The night vision came on. Dib looked down at Zim, whose arm had collapsed. Zim looked even worse than before. Dib ran as fast as he could through the first door he could reach.


	31. Chapter 31

_Sorry for not being as consistent with my posting as I have been. Things have been a little chaotic and I've barely had the time to write any of my own writing. Hopefully, all this chaotic school scheduling will be worth it in the end, but for now I'll just try my best to keep up with the deadlines for my own stuff. So for your reading pleasure, here's Dib and Zim's daring escape._

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><p>"Don't think you can run!" The voice of that Yulom said. It seemed distant, but the sound chased them down the hall. "We know where you are always. We have ways of tracking both of you. Ways that you can't even imagine."<p>

Dib pushed his legs to move faster, but there was only so much that could be done with mechanical limbs. Dib breathed heavily. His lungs burned with the way he pulled in air. His body still didn't understand that his arms and legs didn't need oxygen anymore. Dib pushed himself further through the dark. There was only so much the night vision in the eyes Zim had given him could do, and in long, unchanging tunnels of cold, there wasn't much to see.

Dib turned down the first attached hall he could find. It led him down a hall just like the one before, but soon there was another turn he could make, but that one looked just like the last two. Dib kept darting around the halls until he found himself at a dead end. Dib cursed inside his head. He would have to turn back. He was wasting time. He didn't know how long this blackout would last. He didn't know how much longer Zim would last.

Dib backtracked the best he could, but somehow he ended up in another dead end. He couldn't help feeling like a mouse in a maze. Only this maze had something that wanted to kill him and there probably wasn't any cheese at the end of this. Dib kept going wherever his instincts would lead him, but that just lead into another dead end. His instincts were failing him, and in this situation, those were all he had.

"Young one, turn right now."

"What? Where? Who? Why? How? When?"

"Now, there's an invisible turn on your right. Just trust me," The disembodied voice of the Yulza said.

For all Dib knew, this was a trap by the Yulom. For all he knew it could be a trap by the Yulza. But right now there wasn't time for double guessing the only hint he had for getting out of here.

Dib held his breath, anticipating that he would just smack into a wall, and turned right. He expected to run into something solid, but he passed right through. Dib chanced a quick look back. A hologram. No wonder there didn't seem to be many turns in these tunnels. His father was a smart person, and the Yulom were an advanced species. He kicked himself a little for not catching something like that.

"Turn left, now."

Dib followed the Yulza's directions and ran through another holographic wall. Dib didn't know where this was heading, but he felt a little relieved that he wasn't running blind. The Yulza guided him through a zigzag path, most of which involved going through holographic walls. Listening to the Yulza was almost like listening to a GPS. But with the Yulza, there wasn't the option to changing the voice to something a little nicer sounding.

"There's a small vent near the floor on your right. It will lead you outside."

"How do I know I can trust you? How do you know all of this? How do I know you're not another enemy leading us into a trap."

"This is not the time young one. There are worse enemies following you right now. If you want to consider me an enemy, please consider me the enemy that will do less horrible things to you than the Yulom."

Dib looked down the hall. There didn't seem to be anyone following them. Dib could strain his ears all he wanted, but he couldn't hear anything but his own breathing and the struggling breaths of Zim. Even if this was a trap, Zim would probably be in better hands if he followed what the Yulza wanted him to do. Dib kicked the grate off the vent and crawled into it. It was a tight fit, especially since Dib was trying to carry Zim as he squeezed through, but at least he wasn't stuck. Dib hoped that he wouldn't get stuck in here. That would be the most humiliating capture since Zim caught Dib trying to sneak in through the sewer system. Everyone was flushing that day.

The vent zigzagged, but at least there didn't seem to be any other trails to follow. As far as Dib could tell, it was just a straight path outside. He could almost smell the air now. As he took a deep breath, he realized he could smell fresh air. He was stuck in the air vents, so it could be filtered through, but it smelled near, and a little fishy. He could hear the waves and seagulls. He was so close to freedom, he could taste it. Freedom had never tasted so fishy.

After a few more minutes of crawling through the vent, he came to the end. There was no light that came through the grate that blocked off the vent, but he could feel a breeze pass through it, cooling his face which had gotten sweaty from crawling around in the vents for so long. He punched it until it came off. Painful welts were left on his knuckles, but at least he was free.

Dib crawled out, trying to set Zim down and rest, but there was nothing to set Zim on. Zim fell a few feet before Dib caught his arm. Dib squinted his eyes to see better. He looked along the edge that lined the wall just under the vent. He looked down at the water that splashed at the bottom of the cliff the building sat on and the sharp rocks the water splashed around. Now he knew where he was, but this time he didn't have Gaz or any of the super monkeys to help him escape.

Dib pulled Zim back into his arms. Zim still hadn't woken up after that. Dib crawled onto the ledge. There was still the chance that he could inch his way around the building to freedom. As soon as he was out of the way of the vent, sharp objects shot out, trying to hit him. He thought they uninstalled those. He heard voices on the other side of the building, and several guards were inching their way towards them. It was so much like that day he broke Gaz out of the pig-girl wing that it was scary.

"Come with us. If you don't resist, we won't use these sticks." The guard shook the shocky stick at Dib. Dib stared at the guard. It was one of the normal guards that protected the public area of Membrane Labs. The shocky stick was no more than two sharp prongs with no power. "The pointy bits still hurt. So I suggest you do as we say."

Dib tried to inch away from the guard, but the saws coming out of the vent hit his arm. Dib would have dropped Zim if he didn't act quick. His right arm was now completely ruined, hanging limply at his side as he curled Zim in his left arm. The guards started jabbing the sticks at them for emphasis. Dib looked down again, there were so many sharp rocks down there. If he looked closely, he could almost see a small spot were they could slip through, but there didn't seem to be a safe way out of it, even if they did have the luck to pull it off.

Dib looked at the guards. Their cruel sneers told Dib what they would prefer he did. Oozing green caught Dib's eye. He looked down at Zim. Half his scalp was missing. A small part of skull had been sheered off, showing his brain matter. One of his antennas were missing in the mess. Dib hoped Zim would stay asleep for a little longer. This was going to hurt when he woke up.

The guard closest to them started jabbing Dib's legs. It didn't hurt, but it was annoying. Dib didn't want to think about how much worse it could be if everything was still working. Dib looked down at the sharp rocks pointing up at them like stakes in a tiger pit. As the guard jabbed the stick into Dib's legs again, Dib gave him a little kick. It was hardly even a kick, more like moving his leg out of the way while the stick was still stuck in his leg, but it was enough to unbalance the guard, who plummeted down into the rocks.

The water splashing up on the cliffs was now red from the blood dripping down the rocks. The guard laid still. Rocks impaled every part of his body. It was so far up that the guard looked like a speck or a doll, but the red stood out against the green ocean. The guards stared at their fallen comrade for as long as Dib had, watching as things started eating him right away.

"Oh, now you've done it. As much as the professor wants his son by his side, I'm sure he'd buy it if we told him how you killed Mikey, and how we had no choice but to stop you. Sorry kid, but this really isn't your lucky day."

The guards started moving in on Dib. Their sticks out and blood lust in their eyes. Dib gave the closest one a kick, this time on purpose, and he went flying off into more rocks, just a few inches short of landing in actual water. The second one flew a little further. He survived the rocks, but the water first turned white as he splashed around and the red as the tail of a shark disappeared under the water.

The lights began to flicker on the outside of the labs. Cracks of electricity shot from the shocky stick and the third guard smiled as he stared at the bright blue bolts of static. A few more saws and blades joined the ones already out and the guard moved closer.

"I guess any luck you had so far has run out. Don't worry, both you and your freak will be missed. We'll think about you for a whole three seconds before we go off to find some other boy to replace Membrane."

The guard took a few more steps. Dib squeezed Zim tight against his body. Zim's green, Irken blood had stained his shirt. It felt hot against his skin as it seeped through. Zim's breathing was even more labored than before. He sounded inches away from death. Dib looked down at that small spot in the middle of the sharp rocks. It was possible to make it. Difficult, but possible. But making it would mean landing in water, and Zim might not survive any more damage.

The guard was so close that the cracks of electricity jumping from the stick almost sounded like they were in Dib's ear. The guard was taking his sadistic time, knowing Dib wouldn't be stupid enough to try and jump. Not when he was so far from any safe landing. Dib's feet inched closer over the edge. The guard enjoyed Dib's small, frightened movements like a cat would a small bird's.

Dib took in a deep breath and jumped. He closed his eyes and prayed to science that his calculations were correct, that he jumped far enough to make it. His lungs moved up into his throat and his stomach took the place where his lungs used to be as he fell down towards the ocean. He cracked his eyes open a little. The sharp, jagged rocks were coming into view. They were more jagged than he expected. But the small safe area of ocean was getting closer as well.

Even if Dib wasn't moving so quickly that he couldn't breath, he would have held his breath in anticipation. He did his best to adjust his fall as his small target got even closer. It was much smaller than he thought it would be. He hoped not too small. His feet touched the cold ocean water. Despite how tightly he had held his mouth closed, salt water forced its way inside his mouth and then up his nose. The heavy metal in his arms and legs were beginning to drag him down. He could hear the sizzle of Zim's flesh being burned by the water. He tried to swim up and climb onto one of the rocks, but his free arm was still damaged and he couldn't let go of Zim. They both started to sink down into the water. A strong current pulling them away from the surface.


	32. Chapter 32

Dib struggled against the pull of the current, but he was already running out of breath. He couldn't tell how deep they have been pulled down, but his ears felt like they were about to burst from the pressure. His lungs were exploding with the effort to keep the air in his lungs.

The starts to swirl around them, pulling them in every direction. There was no longer any way to tell what was up anymore. Everything is black around them. The water was cold, numbing his skin until the only thing he could feel was the fading warmth of Zim's body.

Dib fought to hold onto Zim and his breath. The water forced its way between the two of them, tearing Zim from his arms. Dib held on tighter; he could almost hear some of Zim's bones cracking under the effort of keeping Zim close.

The water threw Dib into a rock. The sharp, sword like piece of stone dug into his back, not quite breaking the skin, but digging deep enough to break a few ribs and knock the breath out of Dib's lungs. He could feel the bubbles float past his face and find their way to the surface. Dib gasped reflexively, and a rush of salty water filled his lungs. It felt like weights were attached to his lungs and he starts to cough, pulling more water down his throat.

Bright spots started to appear in his vision. The only thing he could see, but they were soon fading as well. Dib tried to force himself to stop trying to breath anymore water, but it didn't matter. He could feel himself sinking some more. Deeper into the waters and away from the surface.

He was going to die. He knew it. Both of them were going to die in this nightmarish watery caverns that pulled them. Zim was beginning to feel cold. He was going to die. Dib didn't want Zim to die; he didn't want to die. Dib started to fight again.

He kicked and swam in whatever direction he thought the surface was. There had to be someway they could get back to land. Dib fought all his life, and he wasn't going to die just because there didn't seem to be any way to win. He was fighting battles that seemed hopeless since he was a child. This was nothing. He just needed to keep swimming, keep looking for something.

Dib's head felt as if it was trying to swim off his head and find safety away from the body that was weighing it down. His lungs were on fire as the ocean irritated them from the inside and they struggled to push the water out. The currents were still pulling them around and pulling Zim away, but Dib kept moving. There had to be some safe place. There was always a safe place. They couldn't die here. They just can't. Dib knew it.

He's been in situations that, looking back on them, should have killed him. He should have been dead a thousand times already, but there seemed to be something keeping him alive. At first he thought it was just his fighting spirit, but when he really thought about it, there was no way anyone, let alone a child could have survived what he went through. There must be something else keeping him alive. He wished he knew what, but he knew that they weren't going to die. He can't give up because he needed to fight like before and stay alive.

He swam until he was so close to passing out, his movements were only a few kicks. It felt like he was floating, like the water had gone still. It was peaceful. He almost wanted to just give up. He felt so tired. If he just rested a little. He just wanted to stop. Dib stopped kicking and just floated.

As he began to loose consciousness, a new awareness came over him. He was still. There was no more current. Dib used what last strength he had and tried to swim up. He didn't even know if he was swimming up, but there was no time to second guess anything.

A few kicks later, he could feel the wonderful sensation of the water breaking around his head and the feel of air pushing the water away. He vomited up some of the water and takes in the most wonderful breath of air he had ever felt. Dib still felt close to passing out. He swam in the first direction he thought of to look for land, spitting up water with ever kick.

Everything was still so dark. Dib didn't know if it was just night or it they were somewhere else. He just kept going until he finally found something solid. He pushed Zim onto it and crawled on himself. He coughed up the rest of the water, clearing what he could from his lungs until he finally feel asleep.

"Dib..." A voice broke through.

Dib could feel a hand on his shoulder, very weakly trying to shake him awake.

"Hmm?" Dib hummed before going into a fit of coughing. His lungs felt like they had dried up on the inside. His stomach churned and he threw up.

"Dib..." Zim said again. His voice sounded as dry and strained.

"Zim," Dib said, reaching out to find him.

Wherever they were, it was dark. Dib felt completely blind. After reaching around, his hand felt the side of Zim's face. It was lumpy and blistered from the dunk in the water. His skin felt so cold it was like that time he found Zim dead. Zim moved his head into Dib's hand for a second. He jumped away. The water on Dib's hand irritating the already tender skin.

"Zim," Dib's voice sounded like he had gargled sand, "where do you think we are?"

"I thought you were the one who knew that. You brought us here," Zim tried to joke. "It looks like some sort of cave."

"I can't see anything."

"What do you mean?"

"It's so dark. Does your pak have some sort of flashlight? Something that I can use to see?"

"Dib... I'm already using it. Everything is as bright as day."

"Zim?"

Zim grabbed Dib's head and started poking around his eye. Zim's sharp fingers poking at the tender skin around Dib's eyes was painful enough, but then Zim dug his finger straight into Dib's eye socket. Dib's scream echoed around the cave, continuing long after Zim had removed the eye and Dib had calmed down.

The cords that connected the implant to his optic cord snapped and Dib leaned back with his hand over the empty eye socket. He could hear Zim messing around with something a little ways away, including a few curses. Dib leaned over to vomit again. This time his stomach was almost empty except for a few remaining gulps of sea water and crumbs from breakfast. The majority of the puking was dry.

"Curse! You're planet's salt water has damaged the components of the eye. I can't fix them."

Zim pulled Dib's hand away from his eye and reconnected the fake eye to Dib's body. It was the one of the oddest sensations Dib had ever felt. It wasn't painful until Zim shoved the eye back into Dib's socket as crudely as he pulled it out. But connecting it back in the eye just felt weird.

"We're going to have find a way out of here. Do you know how we even got in a cave to begin with? The last thing I remember is talking to that stupid computer your father build."

"I carried you out of the labs, but we were cornered at the edge of the building with guards that wanted to kill us, so I jumped into the ocean but we were sucked down and I barely found this place before we drowned."

"That explains why we're covered in water, but you don't know anything else?"

"I went blind almost the instant I landed in the water. We're lucky to be alive."

"Survival has nothing to do with luck. But I think we might need luck to get out of here. How far down do you think we are?"

"I don't know. I was too busy trying not to drown. But I think we're pretty far down."

"No problem, I'll just dig up and soon we'll be back on the surface." Dib could hear the points of Zim's spider legs cut through the air as they unfolded out of his pak.

"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure we're in some underwater cave. Digging up might just create a hole to let water in."

"Underwater cave? Don't be silly. There's air in here, so there must be a way to the surface."

"Zim... I don't want to be in water again, and I'm sure you don't want to either. How about we try to think of another idea."

"I'm sorry Dib, but we can't stay here any longer. There's something we have to do."

"What? What did the Yulom tell you? What did they say before the beat you up?"

"Nothing that important. But Zim used his amazing analyzing skills to figure out what their next move might be, but it's going to happen soon. If we don't get out now, we'll loose even more ground."

"Zim, they've been here for years, I'm pretty sure they own almost all the ground. How much more damage can waiting a few more minutes have?"

"Too much. Now get up, I've got a way out."

Dib climbed to his feet. His knees felt as if they had been replaced with water. Dib falls over the first few times before he finally steadies himself enough to try and blindly find Zim. Zim grabbed Dib's hand, and Dib could hear the sound of something in Zim's pak clicking into place followed by the hum of some sort of energy charging.

"Stay close to me Dib," Zim whispered just audible over the growing sound of the energy charging.

"I always will. Nothing will tear you away from me." Dib hugged Zim close. He could almost feet the long protrusions from Zim's pak that have been growing in power with every second.

"Get ready, this is going to be rough," Zim shouted.

Something fired almost as loud as a gun. Dib's ears began to ring and he could barely hear the sound of water crashing into the cave. Dib squeezed Zim tightly. He could feel the air being pushed out of Zim, but he kept holding on, waiting for the water to hit him. But it didn't.

After a while the ringing died down, but the roar of the ocean above coming into the cave was just as loud. Dib moved his head to look around out of instinct, but the sound filled everything. He couldn't tell where it was coming from or how close it was.

"Zim, what's going on!" Dib tried to yell over the water.

"We're going to float our way out of here. Don't worry about the water, Zim'll protect you."

"How?"

"Did Zim ever mention that his pak is equipped with force fields for everything."

Zim kept telling Dib that they were moving, but as far as Dib could tell, they were just staying in place. It wasn't until the sound of the water hushed to the silence of being trapped in a bubble in water that Dib started to believe. Every labored and raspy breath they made echoed around their little ball of air with the sort of metallic feedback that something surrounded by water makes.

Dib couldn't tell how long they've been floating in the bubble, but after probably hours of waiting, Zim pried Dib's fingers off of him and pushed him away. Dib was terrified at first, but terror turned into a manic relief as he felt sand, dry sun baked sand under his feet. Dib fell backwards onto the sand and dug his hands onto it. The metal hands could still detect the warmth from the sand. Dib laid backwards. He could feel the sun on his face. After years of hiding in his room, watching Zim, he felt ready to embrace becoming a sun worshiper.


	33. Chapter 33

"Can you tell how big this place is?"

"Not very big. I think the classroom is larger. All that's here is sand. It's sort of like a beach island."

"What are we going to do?"

"Don't worry Dib. If everything is still working in my Pak, I'll signal my ship to find us and we'll find someplace where I can fix your eyes. Then, I don't know. I guess we'll think of another strategy of attack. We lost the element of surprise, but that doesn't mean we can't find another way."

Dib stared up in the direction he thought the sun was. "What's the point?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Why should we even bother anymore. It's not like there's anyone worth saving."

"Dib? Why are you speaking nonsense? You spent years chasing after Zim to save your planet, and now when I'm here helping you, you want to give up?"

"Well, that was back then. It was exciting back then. You were always doing something new, there was always something completely stupid and impossible, yet, it was happening and it was up to me to stop it. Even when everyone laughed, it didn't hurt that badly because there was always something to do."

"There's something to do now. You're going to completely change your world. People will start getting smart again and maybe they'll even name you the hero of the Earth."

"Those were kid's dreams. Something I did because I didn't have anything else. I had my sister, but I don't think I need to explain to you what that's like."

"Zim has even less! You think you're such a sob story? I've been banished by my own people, who has already been turned into weapons by the very beings that are in the process of destroying your species. I've died more times than I should be able to come back from, and I don't even know if I'm an Irken anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"Irkens don't love. They only hate. We live to destroy. Even before the Yulom came, we were warriors who lived by our own weapons. Anything we made was made to destroy. And then the first tallest came into power, and we had focus."

"So, are you saying the Yulom made you better?"

"Of course. Irkens are great, and we would have only achieved that greatness if the Yulom had interfered." Zim paused, "But that doesn't mean we should let the Yulom take over the humans. Humans aren't like Irkens, they care about much more than just fighting. You guys have, food, and um... music? I guess. And..."

"Stop it. I know what you're trying, and it's not going to work. It's just that... I'm tired."

"Then get some rest, we don't have to leave just yet."

"No, that's not what I mean. I'm tired of all of this. Of the fighting, of the fact that Earth is always in danger. Earth isn't even really in danger right now. Humanity has become unknowing slaves for who knows how long, and the thing is, is that really so bad."

"What about you. Are you really willing to let everything you know be destroyed by some alien species?"

"I don't know anymore."

A fist slammed against Dib's face. His cheek stung and then cooled down to a painful burn. He rubbed his cheek and started swinging his fists, hoping Zim was still close enough for him to hit him.

"What the hell was that for!"

"You're not Dib. I should have know the Yulom would try and trick me. Dib doesn't give up."

"Have you gone crazy? Did salt water seep into your Pak?"

"Zim's gone crazy? Look at yourself. You're giving up just because you got a little wet. Even Zim has never given up after getting wet. He works until his enemies are wetter."

"I'm not giving up just because I got wet."

"Because you're father still doesn't believe about aliens despite seeing me without my disguise and working next to them. Is it because your father is a blind asshole?"

"No. By dad has always been like that."

"What about having people act cruelly to you. Is that new? Is that what's making you give up?"

"No. Zim, it's not just one thing. It's everything! It's everyday. The longest I've ever spent even the slightest bit happy was that month staying with you."

"Then let's stay here. We'll have a vacation until you feel ready to fight again."

"You just said this is a tiny desert island with no plants or fresh water."

"Then we'll go back to my ship. The Yulom can't bother us if we're in orbit. Or, maybe they can. Well they won't bother two tiny creatures that pose no threat. We'll just stay there and I can fix you up so we can see each other. And then maybe you can look Zim in the eyes and tell him you want to give up. Zim never gives up, not even if the enemy is so small that it's impossible to fight."

"Zim... I just don't want to care anymore. Nothing I do seem to make any difference. When I was a kid I tried to convince everyone that you were alien. Nothing happened. I gave up on that and tried to make sure the Earth was safe from your reign of terror. The best I could do was match you, even when it was killing me. When I got older I tried to make a few human friends, but I think you saw how that went. Then... I didn't know what to do, so I fell back on my instincts. And now, I don't even know what my instincts are saying. I just want to sleep."

"Then sleep and things will get better."

"Zim, things don't just get better because you fall asleep."

"They do for me. Just like they do for all warriors. And thing about this, you actually got your classmates to listen through your entire insane sounding speeches, even when they didn't believe you. And you fought against Zim on equal grounds, even though you're a weaker, untrained child from an underdeveloped species. Zim should have been better than you physically, intellectually and technologically, and yet you defeated me so many times I can't even remember them all, and I have a computer on my back recording everything. And you were always strong enough to keep trying to be nice to your classmates, even though they were the cruelest creatures I have ever seen. And I've seen a lot of creatures. But when I sleep things feel better."

"Zim," Dib ran his fingers through the sand, letting all the tiny grains run past his skin, "Do you ever hate yourself?"

"Of course not." Zim's voice sounded a little weaker than before. "How could Zim every hate himself. I am Zim, and I will be... Zim!"

"Sometimes I do."

"Huh?"

"Not all the time, of course, but sometimes, when I'm not sure if I'm doing the right thing."

"Psh, the right thing is overrated."

Dib kept making little trails with his fingers through the sand. He felt as the grains of sand hit the tips of his fingers and then fall away. Maybe he wasn't blind long enough for the heightened senses thing to kick in, but touch was starting to feel more focused, as if there was no sight to tell him what to feel.

"Maybe you're right." He scooped up a handful of sand and let it fall back down. The particles of sand were so small and dry that it felt almost like warm water on his skin. "But I still wonder what the point of all this is."

"Point? There is no point. We just do what we can and see what happens. We don't need to make a point."

"So, I save the Earth only to live to save it again, and again. I've saved the Earth from you over a thousand times. I've saved the Earth from other Irkens about a hundred times. I've saved the Earth from everything else the rest of the time. But I always kept going because I thought that it I saved it enough times, people might notice. People will start to like me and love me for who I am."

"They'll notice. I'm positive they will notice this time."

"Yeah? And what makes you so sure?"

"We're about to throw society as we know it. Humans will be so scared and confused, they won't know what to do, they'll turn to the first things that look like they have power, and that will be us. Then people will notice, humanity will worship us."

"But I don't want to be worshiped."

"Then what do you want? As far as Zim could see, you wanted to be praised for defending Earth. That time when you threw the muffin at Zim, the computer created your perfect life. You wanted to be the savior of humanity. The thing people turned to because they want someone to tell them what to think. You wanted them to worship you like your father, and he has ten cults devoted to him. The computer recorded all your fears and dreams for that reality, and I saw them all."

"Then why didn't you ever use them against me? If you had all my fears and dreams, you could have destroyed me."

"But that's less fun and it would have taken too long."

Dib laid back down in the sand. His skin was already starting to burn. He ran his fingers through his hair, which had already dried and become hot from the sun. It still felt so weird to have so little hair up there. Some of it had already grown back, but it would take years before his hair was back to normal.

"How long until the ship in orbit gets here?"

"I can't tell. How about you sleep. Things will feel better when you wake up."

"I doubt it."

Dib rolled onto his side and tried to get comfortable, which wasn't as easy as it sounded. Even though he couldn't see the sun, he could feel it. He couldn't wait to get going. He laid in the sand while Zim moved around, talking to himself. Dib thought about what an utter failure their first plan had been, and it hadn't even started. Why does he bother anymore? Why is he so surprised that nothing ever changes? Why couldn't he fall asleep?


	34. Chapter 34

Dib laid on that beach for who knows how long. He could vaguely feel the movement on the sun, but the sensation of a world that he couldn't see was more than he was used to. Couple that with all the near death experiences he's felt in the last few days, it was no surprise that he couldn't sleep. He would if he could. With no eye sight, sleeping in the sun was easier than ever, but he couldn't quiet his head enough. At least this time it wasn't filled with questions he could barely grasp, now he had answers that shook the meats in his brain.

"Dib, are you asleep?"

Dib didn't answer. Maybe he was hoping that if he pretended to be asleep long enough, he would. Or maybe he was just too tired to deal with any more organisms.

"You know, there are so many things I want to say to you, well, not you specifically, but someone. Even GIR, if he could ever understand what I was saying." There were long pauses between each sentence like he was struggling to come up with the words.

"I'm scared." he said it quickly and there was a long pause after it. Dib almost thought that Zim was done talking. "I guess I've always been scared. It's kind of funny. To be an Irken, and scared. I could never afford to be scared, but I am. I have been since before the first bits of information was downloaded into my pak. I nearly destroyed the smeetery because I was scared they were going to replace me. I knew my pak told me differently, but I could feel something that went beyond my pak. Maybe I am a defect. I don't think I've ever melded with my pak. Sure, it keeps me alive, and there are tools I use from it, but I don't use it a tenth as much as the other Irkens. I've always told myself that I was stronger than my pak, but I was scared, too scared to truly meld with it. And it's angry. It keeps shouting at me, all sorts of things, It's all I can to not go crazy. Who knows, maybe I am. It's talking now. It's been too long since I've damaged it enough to shut it up."

Zim shuffled around in the sand. "I'm scared that I really am going to become the Irken monster you think I am. I used to know how to handle the fear. If I pretended it didn't exist and pretend to be excited about universal domination, then I would be normal. But I guess everyone could tell." Zim chuckled a bit. "It didn't help that I didn't have to fake my love for destroying and making things go boom. I've been banished more times than I care to admit. And this latest banishment... I don't even know what to say about it. I can't pretend anymore, not around you, the only thing I can do is lie about it. I don't know how to deal with it anymore. Everything scares me, this ocean, my pak, my species." Zim sighed all the air out of his lungs. "Even you Dib. You scare me the most of all."

Dib curled up into a ball. It hurt hearing that. It hurt more than he expected it to. He tried to make it look like just sleep movements, but from the sound Zim made, Dib felt Zim knew. Dib froze for a little while and waited for Zim to start up again.

"I don't think it's because you're human, as much as I can't believe it. Or the fact that you were intent on dissecting me for the first few years we've known each other. I understood the curiosity of another species. It's what you bring out of me. You make some fears go away, but you bring others in as well. When I crashed that bike all those months ago... funny, it feels more like years. I'm usually good with time. But that day made me realize how scared I was that I might have killed you. And I've killed before, many of whom I killed were my own species. Some on purpose, some by accident, and some... well, I did say I love destroying. But you... you I was scared I was going to kill. I've tried killing you before, and back then I was excited too. Maybe you infected my pak more than I will ever realize. I try to figure it out, but there's nothing in my head or my pak that makes sense of it. Why should I care about some greasy dirt-monkey who's likely half insane with daddy issues and an inferiority complex and the unnatural need to protect the Earth at his own life? But they more I try to figure it out, the more scared I get... because there are no answers to it. I just do. Your stupid human emotions are making me do things that are irrational, stupid, and... and for a few brief seconds, every so often, I'm not scared anymore. You chase away the fears, and bring new ones in, but for those brief seconds, when I'm close to you, when we're running for our lives, when it feels like our minds are the same, I'm not scared. But right after I feel good, the new fear comes along... what if I lost you? How do I keep you close to me? And I don't know how to answer those questions."

Zim sighed and went quiet for a second. Dib imagined that he might be staring at the stars. At least, that's what Dib would have done in the same situation. When things were bad, Dib would stare into the stars, hoping that something would come down and tell him there's a better life. A life in a place where people believed him and treated his theories with respect. Of course, the only things that ever came down from the stars never took him to a better life. The closest any of them has ever gotten to that, took his camera and his councilor. Even so, he still looked at the stars. There were so many of them, and he had only seem the smallest crumb of what was out there. Somewhere there had to be the perfect place. And that place will be even more perfect now, because now he wouldn't have to find it alone.

"Dib, are you still sleeping? You're not hearing any of this, are you?"

Dib stayed silent. Zim was saying things that Dib had never heard before, or, at least he had never heard them spoken so directly. Knowing Zim, this might be the only time Dib has to hear what's being said. The way Zim asked Dib if he was asleep, the way his voice shook, there was something more under there. Zim let out a breath like that puff of air was a barrier that held back the words he was about to say.

"I'm not sure I can keep going like this. There's no part of me that's fit to handle this sort of situation. There are times when I don't want to. There are times were I just want to pull off my pak and let my body waste away, dry up, and just cease all organic functions. Dying would be so much easier than all this loving stuff. I know dying. I can handle dying and fading away, even if I'm the one doing it. And I tried. Back when we thought we were going to travel the universe," Zim's voice started to break like he couldn't breath, "I thought that I could just take off my pak and just go. You would take the ship to wherever you wanted, move on, and my pain would be gone. But then you found me." Zim said like he was talking through his teeth.

"Somehow you found me in time and brought me back. And I hate how much I hate you for that. I wanted to kill you I hated you so much, but I couldn't. I've never had trouble killing someone I hated before, but for some reason I couldn't finish you off. I loved you so much that I couldn't do it. I couldn't even tell you I was trying because I was so scared to see the hate in your eyes. I didn't think it was possible to hate and love someone at the same time. You're changing me into something else, and I don't think I like what I'm becoming, a pathetic weak excuse for any sort of species who can't even kill himself, let alone another being. Let alone a human." The last word was filled with so much spite that it felt like a knife in Dib's stomach. "All those years ago, I gladly rode around in that voot with GIR. For six months! And as tempted as I was, I couldn't throw the defective little thing out the window because I thought I needed him for my mission to destroy all life forms on Earth. It's my mission... it was my mission to destroy humans. And I can't even kill one. Even if I wanted to. And that's the only part of me that hasn't changed. And I hate you for that. I hate you for these new fears. I hate that when I think of you, I think of doing stupid things, like walking around in a rain storm. I hate that you make me feel so confused. I hate your stupid hair. I hate your stupid blind eyes. I hate everything about you and I hate... me."

Zim's voice cracked again. He made a quick inward hick. "I hate me because this might not even be your fault. All my failures, were mine. Even my failed attempts to die were because I did them wrong..." Zim's voice faded out and he went silent for a bit.

It might have only been a short time, but the ache that filled Dib made time stretch longer. Did everyone hate him? His sister always pushed him aside. His father never listened, neither did the kids at school, and they hit him when they wanted him to stop talking. Well, everyone did, even Zim when they were younger. Dib worked his entire childhood protecting people who hated him, because that's what he thought he should do, because he thought that they would listen and love him if he did. Maybe they will never notice. Maybe he was too crazy. Maybe he didn't deserve any love. After all, the only creature in the universe Dib loved, confessed he actually hates Dib.

Dib's throat stung with the urge to sob, but he didn't want Zim to hate him even more. Maybe that wasn't possible, but he didn't want to risk Zim getting even angrier because he lied. Dib wanted to cry so badly, but tears wouldn't come anymore. He pushed his face into the sand until his nose was almost sucking in the small stones and crushed up shells. His chest hurt.

"You know, I bet I could take my pak off right now, and you wouldn't know until you woke up. And knowing my luck, you'd wake up before I died. I'm still not sure that's a comfort. I don't like how unsure I am about everything. At least I'm sure about that." Zim gave a half-hearted chuckle. "And there's probably one more thing I'm sure about." Dib could hear Zim move around in the sand. Then, he could feel Zim's hand grab his shirt. Zim's knees dug into his back a little before Zim laid down behind him. His arms now wrapped around Dib's torso and Zim buried his face in Dib's back. "I'm sure about how nice I feel when I am close to you, and even stinking of water, I wouldn't change your stink for the world." One of Zim's arms moved away. "Or that world. Or that world." It came back, squeezing Dib tighter than ever. "I don't know why I can love and hate you so much. Why can't it just be one or the other? Why can't I just love you? I feel happier when I love you, and it drives my pak crazy." Zim gave a short laugh. "I guess that sort of makes you two a bit of a pair. My crazy, big-headed, Earth monkey that I hate so much. I guess we're all a big crazy bunch."

"Dib?" Zim said in a stage whisper, "I wish you were awake right now. Because if you were, I'd ask you to make sure I never feel like this again. Just stay close and I'll never have to feel this way again."

Dib took a deep breath in and let it out. He still stung from the angry words Zim said earlier. He was glad that Zim calmed down quickly enough, but they still hurt him. Without saying it out loud, Dib promised Zim that he wouldn't let either of them feel that way. He knew Zim wouldn't know that he knew, but this was still a promise he'd keep.


	35. Chapter 35

_Wow, it certainly has been a while since I've worked on this. I guess it takes me one week of school assignments to make me forget about this, and a whole three months to remember. But don't worry, I'm back now. I've fought back writer's block for now and I can enjoy the peaceful time before that monster comes back._

_ I just looked over the publish date of this, and I didn't realize that it's been a whole year since I've started this. Wow, it feels like both a very short and very long time ago. Sort of like so much has happened, and yet everything is still the same. Well, enjoy this new chapter. I'll make sure to keep things going as smoothly as possible until the next time I remember that I probably have a life somewhere._

* * *

><p>"Hey, sleeping uglies." Dib was kicked awake. The sudden wake up call felt like he was on the end of a rubber band, that just snapped him back. "As easy as it would be to just let you die on this island, we've been called to pick you up."<p>

"What are you doing here Dib's scary sister?" Zim said.

"Gaz?" Dib said, feeling a little stupid as he tried to look around for her. In his sleepy haze, forgetting that he was blind.

"Grow a brain Zim. I'm here to pick you two up."

"So what, are you working for dad? Did he ask you to find me?"

"I'm not here because of your father. I'm here because you're on our side of this fight."

"Zim," Dib whispered toward were he hoped Zim was, "Is that really Gaz?"

"Of course I am. Now can you walk or am I going to have to drag your blind ass with me?" It definitely sounded like Gaz.

Dib tried to scramble to get up. As soon as he was on his feet, he could feel someone grab the front of his shirt. She yanked him forward, and just as he was about to lose balance, a hard fist jabbed him in the stomach. Dib doubled over as much as he could. His sister held him up by his shirt and punched him seventeen more times.

Dib could almost hear Zim yelling at Gaz through the ringing in his ears. Zim tried to pull him away, but instead got a few of Gaz's punches. When she was done she let go of his shirt and let him fall to the ground. Dib groaned and held his stomach. He could feel Zim's hands on his shoulders as he tried to catch his breath again. His stomach burned with the effort to start breathing again.

"Happy Birthday, Dib."

"Wha..." Dib said.

"It's November 15th. Didn't you know?"

"It is?"

"Happy eighteenth birthday. Hurry up or you won't be able to celebrate it with presents and cake." Gaz said. Dib didn't need to see to know she was rolling her eyes. "Come on, the boat's not going to wait forever."

Dib struggled to get to his feet. It was hard to get his balance on sand when he couldn't stand up straight. He reached around for Zim, holding onto Zim's shoulders. It wasn't enough to stand up straight, but at least he felt better balanced than it hid without Zim. Dib let Zim lead the way to the boat.

Getting onto the boat was easier than Dib expected it to be blind. Although it was ten times more painful. Zim had jumped into the boat ahead of him, so the first few seconds involved feeling the open air for something solid. Dib was knee high in water before he could find the boat. Pulling himself up wasn't a problem, but knowing where the deck of the boat started was. Landing flat on the one of the few parts that was still flesh, and not only that, still sore from his birthday punches, was not Dib's favourite way of getting onto a boat.

Dib tried to sit against the rails of the boat, but Zim pulled him deeper into the boat. Dib couldn't see where they were now, but the seats were definitely more comfortable than the deck. The engine of the boat started. It was nearly deafening. The boat started moving. Dib could feel the back of his seat press into his back as the boat picked up speed. The water hissed against the hull as the boat bounced on the waves.

Dib could feel Zim curl up into a ball beside him. Zim's fingers brushed against Dib's skin as Zim grabbed onto his shirt, holding closely to Dib. Dib could feel his heart start to fight against his chest. It beat so hard that it was starting to compete with the sound of the boat for the loudest thing in his ear. He felt like he was in a panic, and a part of him wanted to run. He tried to swallow it away, but his tongue stuck to his throat. His mouth was so dry, and it became even worse as Zim moved against him. It was probably because he hadn't had anything to drink in over a day. The last thing that resembled water that had touches his lips lately was sea water. This might all just be dehydration.

Dib crossed his arms. He started to worry that Zim would hear how loud his heard was beating if he leaned any closer against Dib's chest. Instead of letting go, Zim grabbed onto Dib's forearm and leaned his head against Dib's shoulder. For a while Dib was starting to worry that the mechanics in his limbs were starting to malfunction. There felt like there was some sort of static build up where Zim was holding. Dib's heart pumped faster.

"Zim," Dib could barely hear his own words. His head was filled up with the boat's noise and the sounds of his own heart, he wasn't even sure he was making a sound. "Is the water bothering you?"

"Of course not!" Even with all the noise, Zim's voice came in clearly. Maybe he was closer to Dib's ear than Dib thought. "I'm just holding onto you because you look like you're terrified of this boat contraption. After all, with your flimsy human construction, one little hole and it's going down."

"Is that so?" Dib could still barely hear his own voice. It was like talking underwater if his thoughts were underwater as well.

"Of course it is. Would Zim lie? Zim's not afraid of anything." The boat must have hit a big wave because for a few seconds, everything felt weightless and the engine worked itself into a whine before they crashed back down. "Almost anything."

After a few hours, the boat slowed down and the engine's roar softened down to a light putter. It felt so quiet now that Dib could even hear Gaz's boots stomp around as she flicked some switches or pushed some buttons, or maybe she did both. Soon the boat gave off a watery beep and it began to shudder.

"Put your seat belts on," She said.

Before Dib even had the chance to open his mouth to ask why, the boat tipped forward to the point its nose was pointing straight down and the engine started up again, only with a much duller roar. Dib fell forward onto some the window. The glass was icy cold. Zim grabbed Dib's arm and pulled him back up towards the seats. But by the time Dib got there, the boat had evened out and he could walk back.

"What the hell was that?" Dib cried out.

"The boat doubles as a submarine. Duh."

"You could have warned me."

"I did. It's not my fault you're not fast enough."

Despite the fact that he was now feeling pains that probably won't go away for a while, Dib smiled. It was just like old times. Well, maybe not exactly, but Gaz was the same as always. He missed her. If there was anyone he could really call a family member, it was Gaz. Maybe she wasn't like other sisters, but at least she never abandoned him... most of the time.

Dib sat back down on the seat and waited. He could hear the boat start to groan under the weight of the water, but nothing that sounded dangerous. It seemed like they were moving for hours. It was hard to tell the time when you didn't have eyes to so much as look at a clock. Zim was almost becoming Dib's way of telling how long they've been going. As time went by, Zim was starting to feel more and more bored. It started with Zim rocking back and forth, then he started pacing and then jumping. Soon he started groaning like at any moment he was going to burst.

"Dib's sister, please tell me you have a television to watch your primitive human frequencies."

"Yeah, there's a TV."

"Excellent. Where to you keep it."

"I only said there was a TV. I didn't say I want you touching it."

"Gaz-creature, Zim demands you show me where the TV is!"

"Sit down and shut up or I'm throwing you out of the boat and you'll have to swim the entire ocean!"

"Oh yeah smelly-beast, Zim dares you."

"Will you two stop already?" Dib said, "If half the shit that I think is going on is going on, then we don't need to be split up. Fighting like that isn't doing us any good."

"It's killing the boredom," Gaz said.

"Of course. Do you think Zim ungrateful for your sister giving us a ride?"

"So you admit that you needed my help getting off that island?" Gaz said.

"Of course not! I had a plan all set up. You just made it easier for Zim!"

"Of course you did. You're as capable of getting off an island as you are concurring Earth."

"Zim is plenty good at concurring Earth. I just chose to leave your puny planet as it us."

The back and forth went on for a while. They went through concurring the Earth, to video games, to even things they liked to eat. Dib sat back and listen to Gaz and Zim argue. He could never win any argument against his sister, mostly because it ended in her punching him when he started to get the upper hand. Dib was too much action to really be good at a shouting contest.

After a few more hours of listening to them go argue, the boat began to shake. Dib was thrown out of his seat, back onto the ground. He seemed to be spending a lot of time there that day. It sounded like something or someone was pounding on a large steel drum. The rocking stopped almost as soon as it started, along with the sound of the crashing.

"What's happening?"

"We're here. God, Dib, how is it you use your brain so little?"

"Where are we?"

"In a hole at the bottom of the sea. Where else?"

As Dib struggled to figure out if she was being sarcastic or not. Usually he could tell by her eyes. Her voice always had a bit of snark to it.

"Come on Dib. We might as well follow her."

Zim grabbed Dib's arm and pulled him off the floor. Dib's heart started beating again. Zim held onto Dib's hand. Their fingers meshed together as Zim led Dib off the boat, which was a much easier task than getting on the boat. At least this time Dib could prepare for a landing. Zim acted as Dib's eyes as they went down halls that were, according to Zim, boring.

They stopped.

"We should probably fix your eyes before we get down to business."

"Business?"

"Dib, I don't know why, but through some cosmic joke, you're all that separates total universal destruction to universal prosperity."

"Because some ability to change things?"

"I don't know what it is, all I know is that Earth has been chosen as the last effort of both sides to win. Just fix your eyes and we'll talk more. We have a long battle ahead of us."

"Wait, Gaz!" Dib called out.

"I didn't even move yet."

"How did you find out about all of this? I only found out because Zim and I went to a whole other galaxy and met up with the aliens fighting against the Yulom."

"It was obvious. Why else would Dad work so hard on the stuff he does?"

"I just thought he was as obsessive about science as I was about the paranormal."

"You know, Dib," Gaz said putting a hand on his shoulder, "I nearly wanted to give up hope on meeting any form of intelligent creature when I heard that they were naming you the hero of the universe. I guess I had forgotten about how you're really like. Now, I wonder how it is that you've managed to stay alive for so long."

"I missed you too, Gaz."

"Once you get your sight back, meet me in the talking room. It shouldn't be hard to find. It's down the hall with a big sign that says talking room. At least I hope it won't be hard for you to find."

Gaz's steps faded down the hall as Zim pulled Dib into the room.


	36. Chapter 36

Dib sat down in a chair as Zim messed around the room. He could hear the sound of metal tools falling onto the floor and clanging as they bounced around and rolled out of reach. Every time something hits the floor, Zim cursed at the state of the tools he had to work with.

"Nothing here is even remotely right to work on your eyes."

"Can't you just improvise some of the tools?"

"You can't improvise Irken tools! They have to be made my tools that are made by tools that are made by tools. And you humans possess none of those tools."

Dib took his left eye out of its socket. It didn't hurt as much as it did when Zim would take it out. The eye almost came out of its own accord as he pushed his eyelids out of the way to reach it. He gave it a painful little tug and it unlatched itself from his optic nerves. He felt it around in his fingers. He could feel the small little bumps on the back of it where all the video relays were.

"Are you sure it's so complicated?"

"Yes, I'm sure, Dib. Do you think I don't know my own technology? I'm the one who built it."

"Well, no, but... What are you going to do then? It's not like you have much of a choice. Besides, Zim, I've seen you do a lot more with a lot less."

"Nah... Well, maybe." Zim took the eye out of Dib's hand. "Perhaps. You don't care too much about colour do you?"

"I can live."

"Let's hope that your primitive tools don't make me break it."

Zim started working on both of the eyes. Dib sat back in his chair and listened to Zim work. There wasn't much to listen to. Just the soft sounds of tools working. It sounded no louder than if someone was gently tapping on a table. Dib leaned back and tried to make himself comfortable. He stretched his arms over the crescent shaped wooden back and laid his arms from his elbows to his hands on the cold metal counter behind him.

Above, he could hear the ocean. He could hear it move back and forth against wherever they were. It was like being inside one of those shells they sell at ocean novelty shops. The ocean, and Zim's occasional cursing, were the only sounds in the room. They almost seemed like the only sounds in the entire universe.

"Done!" Zim announced loudly. Dib nearly fell out of his chair after the silence had been broken. "Just hold still and you should be seeing again."

Zim set a hand on the side of Dib's face and reached into his eye socket to get the connections for the eye. He did it slowly, like he was scared the slightest movement would ruin it. Soon, something flickered in his right eye. It was just Zim's gloved hand, but everything started coming in. Zim pushed the eye back into its socket. Dib blinked a few times, and when he opened his eye again, he could see Zim's face. It was all that was in his vision. Zim's smooth green skin and sparkling red eyes that moved around. Zim squinted at Dib, as if he wasn't sure if he had even put in the right eye.

"Did it work?" Zim said, looking Dib over and over like there was some sort of hidden message hidden on Dib's face.

"Yes, it works. In colour."

"Of course it is. Zim can do anything."

"Then why did you have to ask?" Dib said, with a big grin on his face.

"Just to make double sure. You can never be too sure of something." Zim still had a hold of Dib's face and he leaned even closer.

"Well, in that case, I'm not so sure the eye is working exactly as it used to. All I can see is your face."

"Really? And how do I look?" Zim smiled. He was smiling so widely that it looked as if the corners of his lips was pushing into his eyes.

"Great."

"Oh, dude, Josh! I mean, Dib! You're really here dude!" A familiar voice said, "Oh sweet, an alien. Dude, he's green and everything."

Zim reattached the connections to the last eye and pushed it back into the socket. Dib blinked a few times to let the eye fit more comfortably. It still hurt putting it back in, but not as much as it hurt before. He rubbed his eyes until they stopped aching and stared at a friend standing in the door way.

"Kyle! What are you doing here. Last I saw you, you guys were in New York."

"Dude, lots of things have changed."

"I can't argue with you there."

"So, dude, where'd the alien come from?"

"Kyle, this is Zim. Zim, Kyle."

"Oh, dude! That's the alien you've been fighting all your life? Man, he totally looks like an alien. He looks so much like an alien that he almost... Dude, I totally forgot what I was trying to say."

"Yeah, so, what are you doing here? And where are the others?"

"Well, when your sister came and kind of told me some of what's going on. And dude, if I wasn't so mellow, my head would be exploding with how twisted this all is. She offered us a place to hide from the alien corruption, but it's just me and X."

"What? Why?"

Kyle groaned and rubbed the back of his head. "Dude, I don't know. Jane was getting all scared and Japlin was getting all weird, and Tyler wasn't making any sense, and I just don't know. I just hope that they're alright."

"Oh."

"So what's with you and the alien dude?"

Dib looked at Zim. There were a dozen complicated answers that he could come up with, but all his thoughts had twisted around each other like a tangled mess of worms. Zim looked back at Dib. He stared into Dib's eyes like he did when he was waiting or Dib to tell him that the eyes were working.

"Well, I'm in love with him."

Zim's face relaxed and he smiled. It was as if in that smile, Dib saw and understood why everything was happening. The pounding in his chest as he tried to think of an answer was still pumping against his ribs, and it made his entire chest hurt, but it was the most wonderful hurt he had ever felt, and it felt that much more wonderful as he said how much he loved Zim to another human being.

"Oh cool, dude, alien romance. Wait, did you say that the alien dude was a dude or a chick?"

"Do you have a problem with Zim being male?" Zim said, puffing up his chest and glaring at Kyle.

"No way, dude. I'm totally open minded. I fantasize about alien chicks doing it all the time, so I'm totally cool with dudes. I think it's totally cool that Josh.. I mean Dib, dude I don't think I'm ever going to get that right. Dib's such a weird name, you know dude? I just think it's totally awesome that this dude has someone to be with. No offense, Dib, but you kind of put off a weird, lonely, desperate vibe."

"Noted." Dib said.

"I mean, dude, didn't you say something about not having friends before? That's kind of sad."

"Is there a point to this?"

"Oh yeah, well, I just wanted to see if it was really you and to say that you'll always have friends. Unless there are hard feelings or something about kicking you out of the group. 'Cause dude, we honestly thought that we were going to jail. Well, I thought that. I don't know what everyone else was thinking. Sometimes I think they're keeping things from me."

"How ever could they keep information from such an intelligent being?" Zim said sarcastically.

"I know right, dude? So I guess I should be going now." Without needing to say anymore, he turned around and walked out of the room.

There was a bit of silence between Dib and Zim. The silence of unease after the loudest person in the room leaves and no one wants to be the one to break the quiet.

"So, that's the kind of human you make friends with? How come you had so much trouble with those pigs at skool?"

"Kyle actually accepts what's true."

"So is that what it takes for a human to be your friend, that they agree with you completely? You know what Dib? I think we have more in common than I ever imagined."

Dib gave Zim a small shove. "I'm not as bad as you."

"At least I can pretend to like other humans."

Zim had him there. "Well, at least I'm not a liar."

"Face it, Dib, I'm better at acting like the humans than you are."

"Maybe that's what you are," Dib said, half laughing.

"Huh?"

"Well, maybe you're becoming human. After all, didn't you say before that you're not acting anything like an Irken."

"Zim's just a good liar. It's impossible for me to be human, Irkens and humans are so different it's like um... two completely different things trying to be each other... I am Zim!"

"Of course you are." Dib wrapped his arms around Zim and held him close.

Zim let himself be hugged for a little while, before hugging Dib back, burying his face against Dib's neck. Dib pulled Zim up onto his lap so that he wasn't awkwardly doubled over anymore. It was one of the downsides to having such a short boyfriend, a very small downside. Dib set his cheek on top of Zim's head. He could almost fall asleep right now. It's been a while since he's had a good sleep.

Dib began to feel drowsy. He couldn't shake the feeling that there was something he should be doing, but for the life of him he couldn't remember. Zim wasn't saying anything, so it was probably not important. It was just one of those weird feelings. Dib leaned a little more on Zim. He was close to falling asleep. A bed would be a better place to sleep, but he doubted anything would be as comfortable as this chair was at the moment.

The door slams open. "Oh, dude! I just remembered what I came in here for!" Kyle yelled.

Dib woke up so quickly that he fell off the chair, taking Zim with him. Despite the fact that Dib had fallen forward off the chair, Zim had somehow managed to land on Dib's back. Dib groaned into the metal floor. He didn't realize until his face had it it, but this floor had a really rough texture.

Zim hopped off of Dib's back. Dib sat up and rubbed his sore face. Face planting onto a metal floor that resembled a cheese grater was not his favourite way of waking up. Dib glared at Kyle, who for a few seconds looked like he was going to pee himself.

"I was supposed to," Kyle cleared his throat, "bring you to the meeting room." He waited for a few seconds for a response. "Um, dude, I hope I didn't interrupt something?"

"No." Dib got up and straightened what was left of his clothes. He needed new ones. It might have been from the fall, but the clothes he had on now were now little more than rags. "You didn't interrupt anything."

"Oh, cool, dude. I was just worried that I woke you up or something. So, Gaz is waiting right now, so dudes, we should probably head over there. Now." Kyle said that like a person who had truly gotten to know Dib's sister. Gaz could be a little scary when she wanted to be.

"That's fine. Let's just get this over with."

Dib walked out of the room. Zim followed closely and held Dib's hand as they walked down the hall, this time not to lead him. Zim gave Dib's had a quick squeeze.

"Are you alright?" Zim asked.

"I'm fine," Dib said with a tense jaw. His face still really hurt, and it felt as if sleep was catching up with him.

"OK."


	37. Chapter 37

"About time!" Gaz said with her arms crossed like she had been made to wait for days.

The room Kyle had led them to was indeed named "the talking room." Gaz stood in the middle of the room with a game controller hanging loosely from one hand. It was a large, round room with a dome like ceiling. There was a long, rectangular table in the middle of the room with a hallow middle that was filled with television screens all that all had game controllers attached to them.

"So you finally decided to show up, huh?" Gaz said, "Good. Then let's get started with a plan."

She pushed a button on the controller in her hand and all the screens lit up at once. There didn't seem to be anything on it other than a play through of some old video game that Dib couldn't quite place. This went on for a while. It seemed meaningless to Dib, but Gaz stared at them like there was an important message to be heard.

"Alright. So in a week we're going to attack the heart of the Yulom power."

"Wait, already?"

"Yes. Now that you're back on Earth, we need to move as fast as possible. That stunt you pulled has everyone in a panic, and if we don't get things going as soon as possible, there won't be time for our own attack. If we get one quick attack in the center of their operation, they will be powerless for a while. It will give us a chance to set up a better retaliation."

Dib's jaw dropped. "I didn't think you were such a good strategist."

"Did you think that I just mindlessly pushing buttons with all my games?" Gaz said with a sly smile on her face.

"Well, I guess..." Dib knew that telling the truth wouldn't be good for him.

"And that's why I'm the head of this resistance. To fight against an alien race, you need strategy, not just blindly attacking or trying to match every move the enemy makes. Not unless you want to fail at it."

"So, that's it?" Dib asked.

"So, what's it?" Gaz said, opening an eye to glare at him.

"Well, is that all you wanted to talk about?"

"With you, yes. But I still have something to talk to Zim about."

"If you have something to say to Zim, you can say it to me too."

Gaz shook her head. "Don't worry, it's nothing important. Just wait outside. I'll be out in a second."

Dib was about to protest one more time, but the look on Gaz's face made him think twice about it. He slowly backed out of the room, leaving Zim alone with Gaz. Zim gave him a scared look as the doors closed in Dib's face. He stood, staring at them for a while. He put an ear up to the door, trying to see if he could pick up anything they were saying, but they must have been sound proof because they only thing Dib could hear was his own heart beat.

He took a few steps away from the doors, and considered cracking them open to eaves drop on their conversation, but he knew Gaz would find out, and even without the threat of physical violence, Gaz had a way of making you regret doing things like that. Dib leaned against the wall across from the doors and let his knees give out as he slid down. He tried to imagine what Gaz could be saying. Maybe it was a certain part of the attack that Zim was going to do alone, or it could be a sister warning Zim about doing anything stupid.

The halls here were quiet. There was the occasional echo that bounced off the metal walls, and at one point someone walked past Dib. Even with rubber soles, her steps made the floor clang. She didn't talk to Dib, or even make eye contact. It didn't seem to be out of fear or hate, she just seemed to busy to look away from the papers her nose was buried deep in.

Just as Dib was starting to get sore from sitting on the floor, the doors opened. Dib scrambled to his feet to greet Zim who looked like he was still locked in a conversation with Gaz, only this conversation was mostly through eye contact.

"So, are you sure that you're up for it?" Gaz said.

Zim's eyes flickered towards Dib before locking back with Gaz, "Yes. I know what to do."

"Good. I'm glad that you understand," Gaz said as an uncommon smile crept onto her face.

Dib looked for a sign that this was one of her cruel smiles, but it was calm, if not a little sad. Maybe he was just over reacting to this. Gaz never smiled, and especially not happily, unless she meant it. If this was something bad, then she probably wouldn't have been smiling as she walked away, down the hall and around a corner, leaving Zim standing in front of Dib.

"So, what did Gaz want to talk about?"

"Nothing important," Zim said, and he turned to walk down the hall in the opposite direction that Gaz went.

Dib jogged to keep up with Zim, who kept his eyes forward, refusing to look at Dib. "If it's nothing important, then why was it behind closed doors? Things behind closed doors are never nothing important."

"She was just saying how happy she is for Zim to be with you and that she wants me to stop you from losing any more pieces of you."

"Oh yeah? And why couldn't she say that with me there?"

"Since when has Gaz said anything nice to you?" Zim said, "She didn't want you to think she actually cares about you as much as a sister should."

Dib was a little tongue tied at that. Gaz did often keep her praises to herself, and usually anything that was any close to a compliment was hidden behind an insult. A part of him had a feeling that Zim was lying, but everything sounded as if it should be true.

"You're not lying are you?" Dib said.

"Since when have I ever lied, Dib?" Zim said before pausing to think, "Since we've started working together?" He added

Dib kept his mouth shut. Maybe it really didn't matter and they weren't talking about anything that involved Dib. After all, Zim did have the sort of luck that got him out of any situation, so even if it was something dangerous, Zim would probably get out of it. Dib took a deep breath and pushed down his natural urge to investigate.

"Our room should be just around the corner here," Zim said.

There was a small door hidden in a little corner with a number 77 on it. Zim opened the door and they walked in. It wasn't a very big room. Probably a little smaller than how Dib's bedroom was. Dib stood in the middle of it, beside the double bed, looking around. It had the same metal walls and floors as the rest of the base. It didn't really have much charm to it. Even the sheets on the bed were bland and white.

Then, the room began to change. Walls seemed to flicker in and soon the entire room resembled Dib's room back when the world was still normal. He looked behind him at Zim, who was fiddling around with a touch panel, changing the different features of the room to match the old room Dib used to know.

Dib put a hand on Zim's shoulder, "Thank you Zim. I think this is good enough."

"Zim is never satisfied with good enough."

"Alright, then it's perfect." Dib looked at the bed, never has a square lump of springs and cotton ever looked so tempting. "How about we go to sleep now."

Zim's eyes widened a bit, "That's right, you need to sleep everyday. Well, go on Dib, I'll be right here. Sleep."

Dib crawled into the bed, followed by Zim who snuggled right up next to him. Zim curled up against Dib's chest. With his face in Dib's chest, he almost looked like a little green human child, if it wasn't for the fact he had no hair and two antanai and a round computer thing attached to his back that held all sorts of alien technology. Dib could almost see what the world saw when they looked at Zim. That is if he shut off his brain for a little bit.

Dib let his head sink into the pillow. His eyes were already too heavy to fight. He didn't even have the strength anymore to pull the blankets further up to fight the slight metal chill the room still had. Dib let an arm lazily fall over Zim as he fell asleep.

"Dib?" Zim whispered into Dib's shirt.

"Yeah?" Dib slurred.

"You will always remember me, right?"

Dib laughed a bit. "You're kind of a hard person to forget."

"Even if your mind was scrubbed?"

"Without a doubt." Dib said, curling his arm around Zim.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

He could feel Zim nod against his body.

"What brought this on? Is it something Gaz said?" Dib asked.

"No. I was just wondering how good your memories are."

Dib smiled, "I find a lot of things hard to forget, and you are at the top of that list."

"I like being on the top of lists," Zim said.

Dib gave a tired laugh, "I know. And I'm glad you're at the top of this one."

He laid in the bed for a few more minutes before he completely fell asleep. That night Dib was so tired that he probably couldn't have been woken up if the entire underwater base was collapsing. It was as close to being a literal dead sleep as a person could get. It was almost dreamless. There were some flashes of Zim falling down a hole, and a nightmare of being trapped back with his father, but any dream that Dib had was forgotten almost as fast as it came.

When Dib finally woke up, he was still too drowsy to get out of bed. He considered just letting his eyes close up again and getting a few more hours of sleep, but the bed felt oddly cold. Dib felt around for what the source of this was. His brain was still so heavy with sleep, that it took him a few minutes to remember Zim was gone.

Within a second Dib was completely awake. He kept thinking about that time on the ship. That was the first time he had lost track of Zim like this. In fact, every time Zim went out of his sight, something bad happened. Dib was nearly tripping over his own feet as he scrambled down the halls, hoping to find Zim, or maybe someone who knew where Zim was.


	38. Chapter 38

_I'd just like to take the time to thank everyone who has read and commented on my story. I'm glad that you enjoyed it and I'm very grateful for all your comments._

* * *

><p>The halls seemed mostly empty. Dib eventually ran out of breath and had to walk the rest of his search, but every person he came across didn't know anything about Zim. They weren't even aware that someone named Zim was here. After nearly fifteen minutes of wandering around the base, Dib found Gaz talking to a group of people.<p>

"Gaz, have you seen Zim?"

"Dib, did you sleep in those clothes? You do know that there were clothes in your room,? You look like you crawled out from under a bridge."

"Have you seen Zim?"

"Not since I last saw you? Why?"

"He's missing."

"It's a big base. I'm sure he's around here somewhere," Gaz turned away from her brother and continued talking to the crowd of people around her.

Dib was too frazzled to think about clothes or what Gaz was talking about. He kept searching through the base, but soon he had covered every inch of that place enough times to know it off by heart, and Zim was still nowhere to be found.

Dib walked back to his room, hoping that he might have just missed Zim and he was really waiting for Dib back on the bed. But his room was just as Zimless as the rest of the base. Fell back on the bed, tired again, but too worried to think about doing anything but looking for Zim.

He stared at the ceiling. What was Zim thinking? Dib wondered. Was this why he asked Dib if he'd be forgotten? Dib started banging his head against the mattress. Why did he let sleep decide how far he took that conversation? If he had been more awake, he would have been more suspicious about what Zim had asked. He would have made Zim talk more and found out what Zim had planned. How could he have been so stupid.

"Hey, Dib, you're awake!" Zim said.

Dib sat up. Zim stood in the doorway with a smile on his face. Dib launched himself off the bed and at Zim, knocking all the items that Zim was carrying on the ground.

"Zim, where were you, I looked all over."

"I borrowed one of Gaz's underwater boat things. I thought that, since things are going to get crazy really soon, you should at least have a human birthday celebration."

Dib laughed. "That's alright, I never really liked celebrating my birthday anyway. You don't have to go through the trouble."

"But I already bought you a gift. But if you don't want it, I guess I can just put it back."

"You got me a birthday present?"

"Of course. Zim is so amazing that he found the perfect gift for you." Zim bent over and started looking through all the bags, pushing aside streamers and confetti, and paper plates, it looked like Zim had bought out some party store. "Here it is!" Zim pulled out a small, rubber alien toy and put it in Dib's hands.

The alien was about the same size as Dib's hand. It was one of those squeeze toys that if you hold it tightly enough, its eyes would pop out. Its yellow eyes stared back at Dib. Dib gave it a squeeze and the two eyes popped out in two different directions. Dib smiled.

"Thank you, Zim." He said, releasing his grip on the toy and letting the eyes sink back in place.

"I knew you'd like it ."

"I do. You know, Zim, if you painted this thing green he'd look a lot like you," Dib said with a playful smile.

"Would not!" Zim nearly screamed the words, "I for one look much handsomer than that ugly thing. And Zim's eyes are not a sickly yellow."

"But do you liked to be squeezed?" Dib said.

Before Zim could even answer that, Dib wrapped his arms around Zim and gave him a big, squeezing hug. Part of it was for the present, and another part of it was the last of the earlier anxiety leaving in one big hug. Zim panicked at the sudden attack, but he calmed down and wrapped his arms around Dib's head.

"You know, Zim," Dib said, not releasing the hug, "This is easily the best birthday present I've ever gotten."

"Really?"

"Well, whenever anyone remembered by birthday it would either be birthday punches from Gaz, or a chemistry set from my dad, so yeah. This is the best one ever."

"I'm happy you like it. So," Zim said, breaking out of the vice like hold Dib had on him, "Now that you've gotten your gift, let's start decorating."

"It's alright Zim, I don't want a party."

"But..." Zim paused for a second, "Alright, the real reason Gaz didn't want you to hear our conversation was that she wanted me to get this surprise party thing."

"Then, why did you bring all the stuff here and announce that we were going to celebrate my birthday?"

"How is Zim to know all the specifics of your human day of birth customs!" Zim said, pointing at the mess of party decorations laying on the ground.

"The word 'surprise' is right in the name."

"You lie!" Zim said, now pointing at Dib.

Dib smiled. "Alright, how about I pretend you never said anything and you can get Gaz to help you." Dib stood up to his full hight and held the rubber alien toy above his head, "But I'm keeping this."

Zim gathered up all the decorations that had fallen out of the bags and slowly walked out. Suddenly looking like he was trying to hide the fact he had party, and ran the other direction. Dib couldn't help but laugh. He couldn't believe that he thought something bad had happened to Zim earlier. He never would have guessed a birthday party, but he should have known better than to suspect the worst. They've been through some pretty crazy stuff, but here both of them were, more or less the same from when things had first started.

Dib looked around the room, he remembered Gaz saying that there were clothes for him somewhere in the room. It wasn't hard to find. The drawers were embedded in the wall. Inside was a blue shirt, black jeans, and a long trench coat. It felt like years since he wore these clothes. He knew just from the feel of them that they were his. Of course, the only difference between then and the last time he saw them was that now they were clean. Dib changed out of his tattered clothes, which had seen much better days, and put on the new ones.

Dib smiled as he looked himself over. There was something about wearing clothes that hadn't been through hell and back that made him feel a little more whole. Wearing those clothes brought him back to a time before all the insanity started. Or rather, a time when the only insanity was the usual stuff, when he was still all flesh. It was odd how just a change of clothes made things seem so different.

Dib walked back out of the room. Only this time he wasn't frantically searching for Zim. It had probably been a little more than a day since he had eaten. It felt like months had passed, but still, it had been far too long since he's had anything to eat. At least his panicked search for Zim had one benefit, he could find his way to the kitchen without a moment of hesitation.

On his way there, he could see Zim and Gaz arguing. He pretended not to notice Zim trying to push off all the decorations onto Gaz, who in turn was trying to push Zim away. Once he was out of their sight, he had a private laugh to himself. It felt good having people who cared. Sometimes it was easy to forget about the people who care the most about you.

When he got to the kitchen, Kyle was hanging over some sort of chocolate batter as X leaned against the fridge. The kitchen was just as metallic as the rest of the place. There was plenty of counter space. It definitely looked like the kind of kitchen that was used to cook for a lot of people at once.

"Hey, long time no see," Dib said, waving to X.

X gave him a quick wave as well. X had changed a little bit since Dib had last saw him. For one it seemed like his natural hair was growing back. He still had it spiked, but the brown roots were showing. He still had the cool indifference that Dib knew.

Kyle turned around. "Dude, we're making brownies. They are going to be awesome!"

"Sounds nice. I''m just in here for a snack." Dib said, walking towards the fridge.

X stepped aside to let Dib pass. "I'm glad to see your survived."

"Yeah, well, these past few days didn't exactly make things easy.'' Dib dug around through the fridge. There was a big bowl of macaroni salad sitting in the middle of it. Dib carried it out and set it on the island counter. The bowl weighed a ton. It was probably to feed everyone, but a little bit wouldn't be missed.

X pointed at one of the cupboards. Dib took out a bowl and set it next to the big one. Just as he turned around, X held out a fork and large spoon. Dib gave him a nod and served himself a heaping bowl. He knew that he probably wouldn't be able to eat all of that, but right now his stomach was doing all the thinking for him.

"So, how have you been doing?" Dib said, taking a bite of the macaroni. Instead of cheese like he was used to, someone had made it with ranch and lemon. It wasn't bad, but a little more sour than he expected.

"Surviving." X said, taking back his initial spot on the fridge after Dib put the big bowl back.

"It seems like things are going to get a little crazy around here soon." Dib said between bites.

"Or crazier sooner," X said with a nod.

The conversation pretty much ended there. Dib finished eating. His stomach wasn't too happy about the huge amount of cold macaroni. It ached a little, and Dib was beginning to regret having the big portion of macaroni salad.

"So, what do you think will happen in the next week or so?" Dib said after dumping the bowl in the sink.

X shrugged. "It's hard to say. Sometimes people act the way you expect, and other times they surprise you."

"What does that mean?" Dib asked.

"Dude, I think it's X's way of saying he doesn't know." Kyle said, licking off the batter from a rubber spatula. "X is one of those people who can't admit he knows nothing. But I guess not everyone can achieve the same state of knowledge as me." Kyle's attempts at talking while licking the spatula resulted in batter ending up mostly on his nose. Dib couldn't help noticing how bloodshot Kyle's eyes were.

"Yeah. The world would be a poorer place." Dib said, making Kyle grin. Dib pushed away from the counter he had taken to leaning on, "Well, it's nice talking to you guys. I'm going to head out."

Dib walked out. He couldn't help but be grateful that he still had friends here. He thought back to the time on the island. Things really seemed bad there. It was a good think that Gaz had saved them, for more reasons than one. But it's not as if Dib would ever tell her that.


	39. Chapter 39

_Hey, I'd just like to start with saying sorry for how long it's taken me to post a new chapter. It's not so much that I didn't have everything written down, its more that I got distracted with everything and forgot to come back. I've also been rolling around the ending in my head. I can't decide if I'm going to end it as a tragedy or have a second part. So I decided that I'm going to do both. I'm going to upload the last chapters of this fic, which will have a sad ending, and then I'm going to get started on the next in the series. I'm not fully sure if the whole thing will be a tragedy. It might, because, honestly, I love tragedies and tragic characters._

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><p>"Dib!" Zim called from the end of the hall. Just hearing Zim's voice brought a smile to Dib's face. "How about we head over to the rec room." Zim caught up to Dib and grabbed the sleeve of his jacket, pulling him in the opposite direction.<p>

"Alright," Dib said with a knowing smile, "What do you have planned."

"It's a surprise," Zim said with a mischievous grin on his face.

"OK," Dib said, letting Zim lead him down the halls.

As they walked, Dib noticed that the halls seemed emptier than usual. There was always at least one person walking down, even if the halls weren't crowded. This was a nice quiet place, and yet, it seemed even more quiet than usual. Dib knew not to get his hopes up, but a little voice in the back of his mind got excited over the fact that the reason everything is quiet, is because everyone is waiting for the surprise party.

Just like everything in this place, the rec room was labeled with an easy to understand sign on the door. To the side of the door were some rules for the room, including a piece of paper taped to the bottom of it that read, 'If you touch my games, you'll die! Sincerely Gaz."

Zim's grin grew wider as he reached to open the door. Dib expected to see the room black yet clearly covered with streamers, but everything looked normal. The walls were covered in games and movies, and there was a worn couch sitting in front of a TV. There was a pool table, and a regular table, probably for playing card games. Dib felt a little silly for thinking that this was the surprise party.

"So, Zim, what do you..."

Loudly, as if coming from no where, "Surprise!"

People were literally coming out of the walls and throwing the streamers at him. Dib could only stared wide eyed. In seconds it looked like the room was filled with people when it had been empty before. Pieces of streamer and confetti clung to Dib as he stared at the room full of smiling faces.

"Surprised?" Zim asked in a sly voice.

"Y...yeah. How did they-"

"This is a military base to fight an infestation that has taken control of every power in the world. We're good at hiding," Gaz said from behind Dib.

Dib turned around just in time for Gaz to throw a roll of streamer at Dib's head.

"Wow, thank you. So, everyone is involved?"

"Not at first, but I guess things get a little boring around here. Once the word spread, everyone wanted to join in," Gaz said, putting her hands in her pockets. "So I turned it into a test to see how fast everyone can organize. I guess it's a success." She pushed past him and walked behind the couch to pull up some food and set it on the table with help from a few others.

There seemed to be every kind of food there. Impressive considering it had barely been half an hour since he had last seen Zim, and most of that time was spent hanging out in the kitchen with Kyle and X. Now that he thought about it, there was a store bought cake on the table, but nothing that resembled what Kyle was baking.

"Hey, did Kyle know about this?" Dib asked Gaz.

"No, why?"

"Well, I saw him baking something earlier. He said that they were brownies."

"Brownies?" Gaz said, opening her eyes a little bit.

"Yeah?" Dib said. He got the feeling that he might have mentioned something he shouldn't have.

"Excuse me. There's something I need to do. I'll be back in a minute." She walked out of the room.

Once Gaz left, the atmosphere clearly loosened up a bit. Everyone seemed to want to talk to Dib. Mostly congratulating him on his birthday, some even asking what the party was about, all they knew was everyone was gathering in here. Dib found out the real reason everyone was so excited was that Gaz refused to make a move for a while. And once Dib got here, she seemed to be making several plans of attack. This brought out a smile in Dib. Whenever he got the feeling that Gaz didn't care for him, something like today would happen. Gaz was always a hard person to read. Dib wasn't the only one, but it was nice to know that sibling bond was somewhere on her priority list, not at the top, but somewhere.

"How did everyone get all this food so quickly?" Dib asked one of the soldiers.

He just smiled and said, "You're in an underwater base of a resistance against an alien force that's powered with a mix of Earth science and alien technology. You'll learn not to ask questions about how things work around here."

Dib got the same answer from most of the people in the room. One girl explained it with extremely fast stealth vehicles. Another person explained it with teleporters. Maybe asking questions really wasn't a productive idea. Gaz returned rather quickly, rubbing her knuckles as she walked straight for the boxes of pizza.

"Having fun?" She asked as if he wasn't supposed to.

"Yeah, I can't believe so many people are here to celebrate with me. It almost doesn't seem real."

"The world does extend past the morons at our school. Believe it or not, there are some people who find your annoying enthusiasm towards saving the world endearing. Most of these people have seen your attempts on the news and were smart enough to see." She took a bite from the pizza.

"Wait, you're saving the world as well. What do you get out of participating in all of this?"

"I have better ideas of how the world should be run. Like not putting so much power into dad's hands and using the human race as especially walking bombs. One or two would do just fine."

"Walking bombs?"

"It's nothing you need to worry about right now. It everything goes as planned, which I'm sure it will, we'll both get what we want."

"And that is?"

"Let's not talk about things like that right now. I'm going to start some games." She went over to the TV and set up one of the dozens of gaming systems stored under the TV.

When Dib turned around, he saw Zim standing, with a grin still on his face, although it wasn't as cheerful was it had been.

"Thank you," Dib said again. There didn't seem to be enough 'thank you's in the world to express how great this all was.

"So between traveling through space and a surprise party thrown by an entire army in an underwater base, which do you like the most?"

"Oh, a party can't compare with going to other planets, but in a way, both were beyond what I ever would have hoped for when I was a little kid." Dib looked around at the group of people, some chatting over food, others cheering for their friends as Gaz annihilated them in Vampire Piggy 4 revenge. "Although I guess this was the one I least expected."

"So, this was a good surprise then?" Zim said, leaning towards Dib.

"Yeah."

"Good. I'm glad your happy." Zim's hand found its way into Dib's. "Things have been a little hard the past while, haven't they."

Dib gave Zim's hand a squeeze. He had the feeling that Zim needed this more than Dib did. "Yeah."

"And knowing our luck, they are just going to get harder. Zim's never been one for celebrating before a victory, but then, Zim's never been one for working to stop a planet from being conquered, so I guess this is another first."

The party went on for a while. X and Kyle eventually joined in. They both seemed to have a bit of a limp, with Kyle looking worse of than X. Dib got in a few rounds of Vampire Piggy, even managing to beat Zim a couple times, but no one was any match for Gaz. Even with an army to control, she still managed to get in enough Vampire Piggy to be unstoppable. If only wars were fought with video games, Gaz would be the ruler of the world.

By the end of the night, Dib was so tired he could barely stay awake on his feet. He had eaten more than he had ever eaten before in his life, and had talked to so many people, than he felt completely drained. That party was like having a very rich dessert, and he had too much. Zim helped him get to bed.

The rubber alien that Zim had given Dib was still on the bed when they got there. Zim was going to set it on the floor, but Dib insisted on keeping it in bed with him, and Zim was too tired to argue, so Dib fell asleep that night with the rubber alien held tightly in his hands, as his real alien curled up in his arms.

The next few days were amazingly relaxed considering they were at the edge of an all out war, of which Dib was a key to winning. He didn't know what he was supposed to do, or what exactly he could do, but everyone seemed to treat him with a little more kindness than he was used to, and he wasn't going to correct them anytime soon.

Zim disappeared a few more times, although he came back almost as fast. Dib had learned to just deal with Zim's disappearances like they were normal. Most of the time it turned out Zim was in a meeting with Gaz. The meetings seemed to happen everyday, although Dib had no idea what went on in them. He tried getting a few peaks, but either someone would stop him from getting close to the doors, or they doors were locked so tightly that he had no way in anyway.

It was starting to get on his nerves. Wasn't he supposed to be part of this? Why were they making plans without him? By the third time, Dib started following Zim everywhere. It was almost like when he was a kid. But no matter how closely Dib followed, someone would get in his way, or Zim would go around a corner and disappear. It seemed like everyone was going out of their way to make sure Dib didn't know anything.

Whenever he tried to talk to Gaz about it, she kept insisting that he stay away from the talk room. His part in all of this was supposed to be passive. Things would work out as long as he stayed put and didn't make a mess of things. She seemed to go even further out of her way to make sure Dib was out of the loop.

After a week of trying to get into the room and find out what Gaz and Zim had planned, Dib was no closer to figuring things out. It was getting frustrating. This was what he set his life to. Figuring out the secrets the world held and proving that the paranormal exists. To know that there was something that he couldn't figure out was driving him crazy. Zim wouldn't talk about anything, and neither would anyone else. Either they knew something and wouldn't tell, or they were just as out of the loop. He knew Gaz had a plan, she always did, and he didn't want to be some unknowing pawn.

The day that he finally figured something out, was the day Zim went really gone. He woke up to an empty bed. It had happened a few times, and each time Zim was really in the talking room. Dib snuck out of bed and crept along the halls to try once more. Today it seemed, his luck had changed. Just as he was around the corner from the talking room, he could hear voices, one of them Gaz's.

Dib sneakily peaked around the corner. The door wasn't closed all the way. Dib kept as quiet as possible. There were dozens of voices there. He couldn't place a single one other than Gaz's. Then he heard a voice he knew since he was little.

"Daughter," Dib could hear his father speak, "Please reconsider. We have your troops, and we refuse to give them up unless you hand over your brother."

"You think that Zim is worth giving up Dib? So much for being the smartest man in the world." Gaz said.

"So, I guess you won't mind if we execute him them."

"He's not one of mine, so go ahead. You've got nothing that will make me stop."

"Daughter, I always thought that you were one of the good ones."

"You were never very good at thinking, were you?" Gaz said coldly.

Dib could hear her shutting off whatever they were talking with. His heart felt heavy and cold. They had Zim? Zim went off without him, and now he was going to die. Dib ran to the garage where they kept all the boats and air crafts, and stole the first one he could get keys for. It was a small hover car, but Dib recognized it instantly. It was built for speed. Exactly what he needed right now. It didn't matter that he was supposed to stay here to help out this side. There was only one he really cared about, Zim. He pushed away all thoughts that told him he was acting stupidly and the whole thing stank of a trap. As long as he was the one everyone needed, he had something to bargain with, and maybe that could get him out of trouble. After all, he had an army on his side. As long as they knew to get him, he hopefully won't be there long.


	40. Chapter 40

As soon as Dib was far enough from the base, he realized that he was going blind. He had no idea where he was going. All he knew was that Gaz wanted to attack the heart of the Yulom's power, but after that, she wouldn't give him anything else to go on. He looked at the GPS that was build into the control panel for the speedy hover craft. There were no coordinates set, but he did have one place that he wanted to try. It was his father talking to Gaz, and there was only one place his father ever seemed to be. The labs.

It was the only place that he knew the Yolum were for sure. He punched in the coordinates for his father's lab and the hover car roared to life, and burst towards its destination. Dib was there in seconds. Knowing that he needed a bit of time, Dib recorded his distress message into the dashboard and set a timer for when it was going to be sent. In five or ten minutes the cavalry should arrive. He landed on the roof, and made his way in. This wasn't a mission for stealth. He walked down the stairs that led to the roof.

As he walked passed, he noticed there were still some marks from the last time he was in this stair well, of course, things were going in the opposite direction then. It was Zim saving him, and they were leaving rather than coming. As Dib thought about it, he realized how often lately that Zim had been saving his life. Zim was the one coming to the rescue, even if some of the problems were Zim's to begin with.

Everything was so quiet. Dib half expected alarms to go off the second he stepped foot in the labs, or soldiers to corner him, or something, but things were so still. Dib walked down the several flights of stairs. By the time he reached the bottom, he realized why nothing was going off. It wasn't that they didn't know he was there, but because they knew they had something to keep Dib in line.

Dib's father waiting at the bottom of the stairs with two of his stooges standing on either side. In his hand, Zim hung limply. He looked even worse than the last time they were stuck here. Dib was ready to leap at his father, or anything that came near him and beat them up for hurting Zim, but right now they had Zim, and could make things worse in a second. Dib's hands clenched into tight fists to hold himself back.

"Son, it's so good to see you," His father said with a cheerfulness that didn't suit the situation.

"You have Zim," Dib said coldly, he was in no mood for games.

"Oh, this fellow? I thought that you would never come without the proper incentive." His father said, lifting Zim off the ground like he was some doll. Zim almost looked dead, but there was still a slight movement in Zim's chest.

"Let him go," Dib said through his teeth, "I'll do whatever you want if you let him go and never harm him again."

"You'll be a good boy?"

"I'll be a good boy, scientist, soldier, whatever you say. Just don't hurt him." Dib could feel the joints in his hands groaning against the effort of keeping himself in line. He didn't like it, but Dib knew that they had all the power, and that they would not be above using that power if they felt like it.

A grin made its way onto Membrane's face. "Excellent. Then we have a deal then. Zim will be free and unharmed, and you'll stay here and join us."

"Yes," Dib forced the words from his mouth. He knew what was coming up, or it might be something worse, but when he looked at Zim's battered body, he knew there was no choice for now. "Can I at least say goodbye?"

Membrane checked his schedule through the computer on his arm. "Well, alright. But be quick. We have a lot of work to do."

Dib hurried over to his father and took Zim from Membrane's arms. Dib cradled Zim in his arms, taking in every inch of Zim's face as possible: the color, the shape, the faint peace, and the cuts and bruises that covered it.

"I'm sorry, Zim," Dib said, tears running down his face, "I don't know what else to do. This is just for now, right?"

A tears dripped off Dib's cheeks and chin and onto Zim's face, causing the skin to burn where they landed. Zim's eyes flew open and he gasped in shock before locking onto Dib's eyes. Zim's expression softened despite the continued burning of his skin.

Zim grabbed onto Dib's shirt and whispered, "I have a plan. Pretend to be under their influence and I'll bring you back."

Seeing Zim talking to Dib worried Membrane's lackeys until one of them walked up and tore Zim from Dib's arms. The lackey tore them apart so quickly that a part of Dib's shirt came along with Zim. Dib watched Zim be carried away.

Zim was barely strong enough to lift up an arm, but he had enough air in him to yell, "Just hold on."

Membrane walked up beside Dib and set a hand on his son's shoulder. "Are we ready to begin?"

Dib nodded, "Yes."

"Excellent. Follow me."

Membrane led Dib down the hall to an elevator. It looked like an old service elevator, nothing fancy or technical. There looked like there used to be a carpet in there, but it had been worn down to patches of threads and glue. There were only two buttons on the panel. The faded labels above each button still read, "top" and "bottom." As the elevator began its decent, Membrane gave a sigh of nostalgia.

"This takes me back to my boyhood." Membrane's hold on Dib's shoulder tightened, "Don't be scared, son, at the very worst you won't even remember a thing."

After a minute of riding the elevator, they reached the bottom.

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><p><em>That's it. I'd like to thank everyone who's read this story. I'd like to extent a special thanks to all those who have been following this story anytime during the year and eight months I've been working on it. Thank you for all your comments. I'm starting the next in the series right away, although I probably won't be posting any chapters for a while. I've also got another Invader Zim fan fiction started, although that one is not a romance, I'll start posting it first when I have enough done. <em>

_Thank you again for putting up with me and my often less than consistent posting._


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